Latest

CICADAسيكادا

عربي Book a briefing

News

Every story in the Cicada archive, newest first. 112 stories

Events15 Sept 2026

Riyadh hosts Global AI Week with the fourth GAIN Summit and UNESCO ethics forum

The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) scheduled the fourth Global AI Summit (GAIN) for 15-17 September 2026, at the King Abdulaziz International Conference…

Investment9 Sept 2026

HUMAIN prepares IPO and outside capital, Fortune reports

Fortune reported on 9 September 2026 that HUMAIN has begun preparations for an IPO.

AI3 Sept 2026

HUMAIN unveils humain-m3, a 428bn-parameter Arabic model built with MiniMax

At LEAP on 3 September 2026 HUMAIN announced humain-m3, a 428-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts Arabic model commissioned from MiniMax and further pre-trained on more than one…

2026

1 Sept 2026
Data Centers
HUMAIN launches Nvidia Blackwell Ultra cloud at 1.1MW, targets 35MW in 2027
1 Sept 2026
Investment
LEAP 2026 day two adds $2.5bn for data centers and cloud
1 Sept 2026
Data Centers
Together AI and HUMAIN plan 250MW Saudi data center targeting $5bn revenue
31 Aug 2026
Events
LEAP 2026 closes with nearly $15bn in AI and infrastructure announcements
31 Aug 2026
Data Centers
AWS confirms December 2026 launch of Saudi region and 50MW AI Zone by 2028
31 Aug 2026
Giga-projects
DataVolt and HUMAIN start building 100MW AI data center at NEOM's Oxagon
9 Jul 2026
AI
HUMAIN and Canada's Cohere agree to collaborate on AI compute and sovereign models
Jul 2026
Startups
Saudi startups raise $93.5m in July 2026; UAE takes 96.8% of regional funding
1 Jun 2026
AI
HUMAIN to bring Nvidia DRIVE Hyperion robotaxi platform to Saudi Arabia
21 May 2026
AI
HUMAIN names Accenture its strategic reinvention and AI partner in Saudi Arabia
16 May 2026
Startups
a16z leads $25m Series A in Saudi fintech Stitch, reportedly its first Gulf bet
7 Apr 2026
AI
Saudi AI company registrations reach 19,638 in 2025, up 240% since 2021
3 Apr 2026
Policy
SDAIA opens consultation on draft Responsible AI Policy with four risk tiers
10 Mar 2026
Policy
Cabinet designates 2026 as Saudi Arabia's 'Year of Artificial Intelligence'
10 Mar 2026
AI
Aramco reports $5.3bn technology value for 2025, $2.6bn from AI
Mar 2026
Data Centers
Operational data center capacity reaches 467MW in Q1 2026, per official figures
22 Feb 2026
Policy
Saudi Arabia becomes first Arab country to join the Global Partnership on AI
11 Feb 2026
Data Centers
Microsoft confirms Saudi Arabia East cloud region for Q4 2026
10 Feb 2026
AI
HUMAIN unveils agentic HUMAIN OS at PIF Private Sector Forum
28 Jan 2026
Talent
SDAIA launches SAMAI 2 and 40 AI academic programs at ICAN 2026
21 Jan 2026
Investment
HUMAIN and National Infrastructure Fund agree $1.2bn financing framework
Jan 2026
Data Centers
SDAIA lays foundation stone for 480MW Hexagon government data center
Jan 2026
Startups
Saudi Arabia leads Middle East VC in 2025 with $1.72bn, per MAGNiTT

2025

18 Dec 2025
Data Centers
stc's center3 and HUMAIN sign MoU for AI data center joint venture
19 Nov 2025
Data Centers
HUMAIN and Nvidia plan up to 600,000 GPUs over three years
19 Nov 2025
Data Centers
xAI and HUMAIN to build 500MW data center in Saudi Arabia
19 Nov 2025
Policy
US approves up to 35,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips each for HUMAIN and G42
19 Nov 2025
Data Centers
AMD, Cisco and HUMAIN set up joint venture for up to 1GW of AI infrastructure
19 Nov 2025
Investment
HUMAIN leads $900m Series C in Luma AI at $4bn valuation
18 Nov 2025
Investment
Crown Prince lifts planned US investment to nearly $1 trillion
18 Nov 2025
Policy
US and Saudi Arabia sign strategic AI memorandum of understanding
9 Nov 2025
Talent
SAMAI trains more than one million Saudis in AI, 52% of them women
28 Oct 2025
Investment
Aramco signs term sheet for significant minority stake in HUMAIN
28 Oct 2025
Investment
HUMAIN and Blackstone-backed AirTrunk plan data center campus with $3bn start
27 Oct 2025
Events
FII9 closes with over $50bn in deals and pledges
27 Oct 2025
AI
HUMAIN unveils HUMAIN One, which it calls the first AI operating system
27 Oct 2025
Data Centers
HUMAIN and Qualcomm plan 200MW of AI200/AI250 inference racks
25 Aug 2025
AI
HUMAIN launches Arabic chat app powered by ALLaM 34B
25 Aug 2025
Data Centers
HUMAIN breaks ground on first data centers in Riyadh and Dammam
6 Aug 2025
AI
Saudi Arabia hosts OpenAI open models via HUMAIN-Groq partnership
15 Jul 2025
Startups
Lucidya raises $30m Series B, which it calls Saudi Arabia's largest AI round
Jun 2025
Policy
MCIT and SDAIA issue National Data Center Strategy targeting 1.5GW by 2030
16 May 2025
Investment
DataVolt and Supermicro sign MoU for at least $20bn of AI systems
14 May 2025
Investment
STV launches Google-backed AI fund that it sizes at $100m
13 May 2025
Investment
AMD and HUMAIN announce up to $10bn AI infrastructure collaboration
13 May 2025
Data Centers
Nvidia to supply HUMAIN with 18,000 GB300 chips in first tranche
13 May 2025
Investment
Saudi Arabia pledges $600bn US investment during Trump visit
13 May 2025
Data Centers
AWS and HUMAIN announce $5bn-plus 'AI Zone' in Saudi Arabia
12 May 2025
AI
Crown Prince launches HUMAIN, PIF's full-stack AI company
12 May 2025
Talent
Tareq Amin takes the helm as HUMAIN CEO
14 Apr 2025
Policy
CST publishes draft Global AI Hub Law with 'data embassies'
6 Mar 2025
AI
SDAIA lists ALLaM 7B on Hugging Face
9 Feb 2025
Events
LEAP25 opens with $14.9bn in announced AI and tech investments
9 Feb 2025
Investment
Alat and Lenovo commit $2bn to Riyadh AI and robotics manufacturing hub
9 Feb 2025
Data Centers
Groq switches on Dammam AI inference cluster, which it calls EMEA's largest
Feb 2025
Giga-projects
DataVolt signs $5bn deal for 1.5GW AI data center campus at NEOM's Oxagon

2024

13 Nov 2024
Startups
Lean Technologies raises $67.5m Series B led by General Catalyst
6 Nov 2024
Investment
Bloomberg: Saudi plans up to $100bn 'Project Transcendence' AI group
30 Oct 2024
Investment
PIF and Google Cloud sign deal for Saudi global AI hub near Dammam
29 Oct 2024
Events
FII8 closes in Riyadh with $70bn of announced deals
28 Oct 2024
Investment
Aramco's Wa'ed Ventures earmarks $100m for AI startups
17 Sept 2024
Data Centers
Groq and Aramco Digital plan 'world's largest' AI inference center
17 Sept 2024
Gov-Tech
Saudi Arabia jumps to sixth in UN e-government ranking
12 Sept 2024
Policy
SDAIA publishes national AI Adoption Framework
11 Sept 2024
Policy
SDAIA announces UNESCO Category 2 status for ICAIRE at Global AI Summit
10 Sept 2024
Events
Third Global AI Summit draws 30,000 delegates to Riyadh
Sept 2024
Talent
SDAIA launches 'One Million Saudis in AI' (SAMAI) program
6 Aug 2024
Data Centers
Oracle opens second Saudi public cloud region in Riyadh
30 Jul 2024
Startups
Intelmatix raises $20m Series A for EDIX decision-intelligence platform
1 Jul 2024
AI
KAUST launches Center of Excellence on Generative AI
21 May 2024
AI
SDAIA and IBM launch ALLaM Arabic LLM on watsonx
20 Mar 2024
Investment
Report: PIF in talks with a16z on a $40bn AI investment fund
4 Mar 2024
AI
Aramco unveils Metabrain, a 250bn-parameter industrial AI model
4 Mar 2024
Data Centers
AWS commits $5.3bn to a Saudi cloud region
4 Mar 2024
Data Centers
DataVolt pledges $5bn for 300MW+ of Saudi data centers
4 Mar 2024
Events
LEAP24 opens in Riyadh with $11.9bn in announced investments
4 Mar 2024
Startups
Salla raises $130m pre-IPO round led by Investcorp and Sanabil
Feb 2024
Investment
PIF unveils Alat, an advanced technology company with $100bn planned by 2030
10 Jan 2024
Policy
SDAIA issues generative AI guidelines for government and the public

2023

18 Dec 2023
Startups
Tamara raises $340m Series C, becomes Saudi fintech unicorn
15 Nov 2023
Data Centers
Google Cloud opens Dammam region in Saudi Arabia
17 Oct 2023
Talent
Tareq Amin, ex-Rakuten Symphony chief, joins Aramco Digital as CEO
14 Sept 2023
Policy
PDPL takes effect; full enforcement follows in September 2024
14 Sept 2023
Policy
SDAIA publishes AI Ethics Principles version 2.0
25 Jul 2023
Policy
Cabinet approves International Center for AI Research and Ethics
27 Mar 2023
Policy
Royal decree amends the Personal Data Protection Law
6 Feb 2023
Events
LEAP23 in Riyadh announces about $9bn of tech investments
6 Feb 2023
Investment
Microsoft announces $2.1bn for a hyperscale cloud in Saudi Arabia
6 Feb 2023
Investment
Oracle commits $1.5bn to Saudi cloud regions, including Riyadh

2022

25 Oct 2022
Events
FII6 closes with more than $9bn of deals
13 Sept 2022
Events
Second Global AI Summit draws 15,000 participants in Riyadh
22 Aug 2022
Startups
Tamara raises $100m Series B led by Sanabil
20 Apr 2022
Startups
Foodics raises $170m Series C led by Prosus and Sanabil
4 Feb 2022
Startups
Saudi AI firm Mozn raises $10m Series A led by Raed Ventures
2 Feb 2022
Investment
Aramco launches $1bn Prosperity7 Ventures at LEAP22
1 Feb 2022
Events
LEAP22 opens in Riyadh; $6.4bn of tech investments reported

2021

16 Sept 2021
Policy
Saudi Arabia issues its first Personal Data Protection Law

2020

21 Oct 2020
Policy
SDAIA launches National Strategy for Data and AI at first Global AI Summit
May 2020
Gov-Tech
SDAIA's Tawakkalna app, launched in 2020, is reported to serve 34m users
4 Feb 2020
Data Centers
Oracle opens Jeddah region, first public cloud region in Saudi Arabia

2019

30 Aug 2019
Policy
Royal decree establishes SDAIA as national data and AI authority
Aug 2019
Talent
Abdullah Alghamdi appointed to lead SDAIA by royal order

2017

25 Oct 2017
AI
Saudi Arabia grants citizenship to humanoid robot Sophia
24 Oct 2017
Giga-projects
Crown Prince unveils NEOM, a $500bn tech-led megacity zone
24 Oct 2017
Events
First Future Investment Initiative opens in Riyadh

2016

14 Oct 2016
Investment
PIF and SoftBank sign MoU for tech-focused Vision Fund
25 Apr 2016
Policy
Mohammed bin Salman unveils Saudi Vision 2030

2009

23 Sept 2009
AI
KAUST opens as Saudi Arabia's graduate research university

1977

29 Nov 1977
AI
Saudi Arabia creates national science center that became KACST