---
title: "Saudi AI & Tech News Archive"
url: "https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news"
language: "en"
---

# Saudi AI & Tech News Archive

Cicada's sourced archive of AI news from Saudi Arabia, from SDAIA to data centers, startups and giga-projects. Every story links to its sources.

- 2026-09-15 · Events — [Riyadh hosts Global AI Week with the fourth GAIN Summit and UNESCO ethics forum](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/gain-2026-fourth-edition-riyadh)
- 2026-09-09 · Investment — [HUMAIN prepares IPO and outside capital, Fortune reports](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-seeks-external-investment-2026)
- 2026-09-03 · AI — [HUMAIN unveils humain-m3, a 428bn-parameter Arabic model built with MiniMax](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-m3-arabic-frontier-model-2026)
- 2026-09-01 · Data Centers — [HUMAIN launches Nvidia Blackwell Ultra cloud at 1.1MW, targets 35MW in 2027](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-nvidia-ai-cloud-live-2026)
- 2026-09-01 · Investment — [LEAP 2026 day two adds $2.5bn for data centers and cloud](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/leap26-day-two-data-centre-investments)
- 2026-09-01 · Data Centers — [Together AI and HUMAIN plan 250MW Saudi data center targeting $5bn revenue](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/together-ai-humain-250mw-2026)
- 2026-08-31 · Events — [LEAP 2026 closes with nearly $15bn in AI and infrastructure announcements](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/leap26-opens-riyadh)
- 2026-08-31 · Data Centers — [AWS confirms December 2026 launch of Saudi region and 50MW AI Zone by 2028](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/aws-saudi-region-december-2026-confirmed)
- 2026-08-31 · Giga-projects — [DataVolt and HUMAIN start building 100MW AI data center at NEOM's Oxagon](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/datavolt-humain-oxagon-construction-2026)
- 2026-07-09 · AI — [HUMAIN and Canada's Cohere agree to collaborate on AI compute and sovereign models](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-cohere-partnership-2026)
- 2026-07 · Startups — [Saudi startups raise $93.5m in July 2026; UAE takes 96.8% of regional funding](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/saudi-startup-funding-h1-july-2026)
- 2026-06-01 · AI — [HUMAIN to bring Nvidia DRIVE Hyperion robotaxi platform to Saudi Arabia](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-nvidia-drive-hyperion-robotaxi-2026)
- 2026-05-21 · AI — [HUMAIN names Accenture its strategic reinvention and AI partner in Saudi Arabia](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-accenture-strategic-partner-2026)
- 2026-05-16 · Startups — [a16z leads $25m Series A in Saudi fintech Stitch, reportedly its first Gulf bet](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/a16z-first-gcc-bet-stitch-2026)
- 2026-04-07 · AI — [Saudi AI company registrations reach 19,638 in 2025, up 240% since 2021](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/saudi-ai-company-registrations-2025)
- 2026-04-03 · Policy — [SDAIA opens consultation on draft Responsible AI Policy with four risk tiers](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/sdaia-responsible-ai-policy-draft-2026)
- 2026-03-10 · Policy — [Cabinet designates 2026 as Saudi Arabia's 'Year of Artificial Intelligence'](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/year-of-ai-2026-cabinet)
- 2026-03-10 · AI — [Aramco reports $5.3bn technology value for 2025, $2.6bn from AI](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/aramco-ai-technology-value-2025-results)
- 2026-03 · Data Centers — [Operational data center capacity reaches 467MW in Q1 2026, per official figures](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/datacentre-capacity-467mw-q1-2026)
- 2026-02-22 · Policy — [Saudi Arabia becomes first Arab country to join the Global Partnership on AI](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/saudi-joins-gpai-2026)
- 2026-02-11 · Data Centers — [Microsoft confirms Saudi Arabia East cloud region for Q4 2026](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/microsoft-saudi-region-q4-2026-confirmed)
- 2026-02-10 · AI — [HUMAIN unveils agentic HUMAIN OS at PIF Private Sector Forum](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-os-pif-private-sector-forum-2026)
- 2026-01-28 · Talent — [SDAIA launches SAMAI 2 and 40 AI academic programs at ICAN 2026](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/ican-2026-samai-2-academic-programmes)
- 2026-01-21 · Investment — [HUMAIN and National Infrastructure Fund agree $1.2bn financing framework](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-infra-1-2bn-financing-framework-2026)
- 2026-01 · Data Centers — [SDAIA lays foundation stone for 480MW Hexagon government data center](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/hexagon-government-data-centre-groundbreaking-2026)
- 2026-01 · Startups — [Saudi Arabia leads Middle East VC in 2025 with $1.72bn, per MAGNiTT](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/saudi-vc-record-2025-magnitt)
- 2025-12-18 · Data Centers — [stc's center3 and HUMAIN sign MoU for AI data center joint venture](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/stc-humain-datacenter-jv-mou-2025)
- 2025-11-19 · Data Centers — [HUMAIN and Nvidia plan up to 600,000 GPUs over three years](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-nvidia-600000-gpus-2025)
- 2025-11-19 · Data Centers — [xAI and HUMAIN to build 500MW data center in Saudi Arabia](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-xai-500mw-2025)
- 2025-11-19 · Policy — [US approves up to 35,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips each for HUMAIN and G42](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/us-approves-35000-blackwell-chips-humain-2025)
- 2025-11-19 · Data Centers — [AMD, Cisco and HUMAIN set up joint venture for up to 1GW of AI infrastructure](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/amd-cisco-humain-jv-2025)
- 2025-11-19 · Investment — [HUMAIN leads $900m Series C in Luma AI at $4bn valuation](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/luma-ai-900m-series-c-humain-2025)
- 2025-11-18 · Investment — [Crown Prince lifts planned US investment to nearly $1 trillion](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/mbs-trump-near-1tn-pledge-2025)
- 2025-11-18 · Policy — [US and Saudi Arabia sign strategic AI memorandum of understanding](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/us-saudi-ai-mou-2025)
- 2025-11-09 · Talent — [SAMAI trains more than one million Saudis in AI, 52% of them women](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/samai-one-million-reached-2025)
- 2025-10-28 · Investment — [Aramco signs term sheet for significant minority stake in HUMAIN](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/aramco-humain-minority-stake-2025)
- 2025-10-28 · Investment — [HUMAIN and Blackstone-backed AirTrunk plan data center campus with $3bn start](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-airtrunk-3bn-2025)
- 2025-10-27 · Events — [FII9 closes with over $50bn in deals and pledges](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/fii9-riyadh-2025)
- 2025-10-27 · AI — [HUMAIN unveils HUMAIN One, which it calls the first AI operating system](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-one-ai-os-2025)
- 2025-10-27 · Data Centers — [HUMAIN and Qualcomm plan 200MW of AI200/AI250 inference racks](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-qualcomm-200mw-2025)
- 2025-08-25 · AI — [HUMAIN launches Arabic chat app powered by ALLaM 34B](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-chat-allam-34b-launch-2025)
- 2025-08-25 · Data Centers — [HUMAIN breaks ground on first data centers in Riyadh and Dammam](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-breaks-ground-riyadh-dammam-2025)
- 2025-08-06 · AI — [Saudi Arabia hosts OpenAI open models via HUMAIN-Groq partnership](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/openai-gpt-oss-humain-groq-2025)
- 2025-07-15 · Startups — [Lucidya raises $30m Series B, which it calls Saudi Arabia's largest AI round](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/lucidya-series-b-30m-2025)
- 2025-06 · Policy — [MCIT and SDAIA issue National Data Center Strategy targeting 1.5GW by 2030](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/national-data-center-strategy-2025)
- 2025-05-16 · Investment — [DataVolt and Supermicro sign MoU for at least $20bn of AI systems](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/datavolt-supermicro-20bn-mou-2025)
- 2025-05-14 · Investment — [STV launches Google-backed AI fund that it sizes at $100m](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/stv-google-100m-ai-fund-2025)
- 2025-05-13 · Investment — [AMD and HUMAIN announce up to $10bn AI infrastructure collaboration](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-amd-10bn-2025)
- 2025-05-13 · Data Centers — [Nvidia to supply HUMAIN with 18,000 GB300 chips in first tranche](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-nvidia-18000-chips-2025)
- 2025-05-13 · Investment — [Saudi Arabia pledges $600bn US investment during Trump visit](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/us-saudi-investment-forum-600bn-2025)
- 2025-05-13 · Data Centers — [AWS and HUMAIN announce $5bn-plus 'AI Zone' in Saudi Arabia](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-aws-ai-zone-2025)
- 2025-05-12 · AI — [Crown Prince launches HUMAIN, PIF's full-stack AI company](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-launched-2025)
- 2025-05-12 · Talent — [Tareq Amin takes the helm as HUMAIN CEO](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/tareq-amin-named-humain-ceo-2025)
- 2025-04-14 · Policy — [CST publishes draft Global AI Hub Law with 'data embassies'](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/global-ai-hub-law-draft-2025)
- 2025-03-06 · AI — [SDAIA lists ALLaM 7B on Hugging Face](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/allam-7b-hugging-face-2025)
- 2025-02-09 · Events — [LEAP25 opens with $14.9bn in announced AI and tech investments](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/leap25-opens)
- 2025-02-09 · Investment — [Alat and Lenovo commit $2bn to Riyadh AI and robotics manufacturing hub](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/alat-lenovo-2bn-hub-2025)
- 2025-02-09 · Data Centers — [Groq switches on Dammam AI inference cluster, which it calls EMEA's largest](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/groq-dammam-cluster-opens-2025)
- 2025-02 · Giga-projects — [DataVolt signs $5bn deal for 1.5GW AI data center campus at NEOM's Oxagon](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/datavolt-neom-oxagon-5bn-2025)
- 2024-11-13 · Startups — [Lean Technologies raises $67.5m Series B led by General Catalyst](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/lean-series-b-2024)
- 2024-11-06 · Investment — [Bloomberg: Saudi plans up to $100bn 'Project Transcendence' AI group](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/project-transcendence-report-2024)
- 2024-10-30 · Investment — [PIF and Google Cloud sign deal for Saudi global AI hub near Dammam](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/pif-google-cloud-ai-hub-announced-2024)
- 2024-10-29 · Events — [FII8 closes in Riyadh with $70bn of announced deals](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/fii8-riyadh-2024)
- 2024-10-28 · Investment — [Aramco's Wa'ed Ventures earmarks $100m for AI startups](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/waed-100m-ai-startups-2024)
- 2024-09-17 · Data Centers — [Groq and Aramco Digital plan 'world's largest' AI inference center](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/groq-aramco-digital-inference-plan-2024)
- 2024-09-17 · Gov-Tech — [Saudi Arabia jumps to sixth in UN e-government ranking](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/un-egdi-2024-saudi-sixth)
- 2024-09-12 · Policy — [SDAIA publishes national AI Adoption Framework](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/ai-adoption-framework-2024)
- 2024-09-11 · Policy — [SDAIA announces UNESCO Category 2 status for ICAIRE at Global AI Summit](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/icaire-unesco-category-2-2024)
- 2024-09-10 · Events — [Third Global AI Summit draws 30,000 delegates to Riyadh](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/gain-2024-third-edition)
- 2024-09 · Talent — [SDAIA launches 'One Million Saudis in AI' (SAMAI) program](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/samai-one-million-saudis-launched-2024)
- 2024-08-06 · Data Centers — [Oracle opens second Saudi public cloud region in Riyadh](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/oracle-riyadh-region-live-2024)
- 2024-07-30 · Startups — [Intelmatix raises $20m Series A for EDIX decision-intelligence platform](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/intelmatix-series-a-2024)
- 2024-07-01 · AI — [KAUST launches Center of Excellence on Generative AI](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/kaust-genai-centre-of-excellence-2024)
- 2024-05-21 · AI — [SDAIA and IBM launch ALLaM Arabic LLM on watsonx](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/allam-on-ibm-watsonx-2024)
- 2024-03-20 · Investment — [Report: PIF in talks with a16z on a $40bn AI investment fund](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/pif-40bn-ai-fund-report-2024)
- 2024-03-04 · AI — [Aramco unveils Metabrain, a 250bn-parameter industrial AI model](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/aramco-metabrain-2024)
- 2024-03-04 · Data Centers — [AWS commits $5.3bn to a Saudi cloud region](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/aws-5-3bn-saudi-region-announced-2024)
- 2024-03-04 · Data Centers — [DataVolt pledges $5bn for 300MW+ of Saudi data centers](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/datavolt-5bn-datacentres-leap24)
- 2024-03-04 · Events — [LEAP24 opens in Riyadh with $11.9bn in announced investments](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/leap24-opens)
- 2024-03-04 · Startups — [Salla raises $130m pre-IPO round led by Investcorp and Sanabil](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/salla-pre-ipo-130m-2024)
- 2024-02 · Investment — [PIF unveils Alat, an advanced technology company with $100bn planned by 2030](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/alat-launched-2024)
- 2024-01-10 · Policy — [SDAIA issues generative AI guidelines for government and the public](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/genai-guidelines-2024)
- 2023-12-18 · Startups — [Tamara raises $340m Series C, becomes Saudi fintech unicorn](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/tamara-series-c-unicorn-2023)
- 2023-11-15 · Data Centers — [Google Cloud opens Dammam region in Saudi Arabia](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/google-cloud-dammam-region-2023)
- 2023-10-17 · Talent — [Tareq Amin, ex-Rakuten Symphony chief, joins Aramco Digital as CEO](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/tareq-amin-joins-aramco-digital-2023)
- 2023-09-14 · Policy — [PDPL takes effect; full enforcement follows in September 2024](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/pdpl-in-force-2023)
- 2023-09-14 · Policy — [SDAIA publishes AI Ethics Principles version 2.0](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/ai-ethics-principles-v2-2023)
- 2023-07-25 · Policy — [Cabinet approves International Center for AI Research and Ethics](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/icaire-cabinet-approval-2023)
- 2023-03-27 · Policy — [Royal decree amends the Personal Data Protection Law](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/pdpl-amended-2023)
- 2023-02-06 · Events — [LEAP23 in Riyadh announces about $9bn of tech investments](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/leap23-opens)
- 2023-02-06 · Investment — [Microsoft announces $2.1bn for a hyperscale cloud in Saudi Arabia](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/microsoft-2-1bn-cloud-leap23)
- 2023-02-06 · Investment — [Oracle commits $1.5bn to Saudi cloud regions, including Riyadh](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/oracle-1-5bn-saudi-cloud-2023)
- 2022-10-25 · Events — [FII6 closes with more than $9bn of deals](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/fii6-2022)
- 2022-09-13 · Events — [Second Global AI Summit draws 15,000 participants in Riyadh](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/gain-2022-second-edition)
- 2022-08-22 · Startups — [Tamara raises $100m Series B led by Sanabil](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/tamara-series-b-2022)
- 2022-04-20 · Startups — [Foodics raises $170m Series C led by Prosus and Sanabil](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/foodics-series-c-2022)
- 2022-02-04 · Startups — [Saudi AI firm Mozn raises $10m Series A led by Raed Ventures](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/mozn-series-a-2022)
- 2022-02-02 · Investment — [Aramco launches $1bn Prosperity7 Ventures at LEAP22](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/prosperity7-launch-leap22)
- 2022-02-01 · Events — [LEAP22 opens in Riyadh; $6.4bn of tech investments reported](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/leap22-opens)
- 2021-09-16 · Policy — [Saudi Arabia issues its first Personal Data Protection Law](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/pdpl-royal-decree-2021)
- 2020-10-21 · Policy — [SDAIA launches National Strategy for Data and AI at first Global AI Summit](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/nsdai-launched-gain-2020)
- 2020-05 · Gov-Tech — [SDAIA's Tawakkalna app, launched in 2020, is reported to serve 34m users](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/tawakkalna-launched-2020)
- 2020-02-04 · Data Centers — [Oracle opens Jeddah region, first public cloud region in Saudi Arabia](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/oracle-jeddah-region-live-2020)
- 2019-08-30 · Policy — [Royal decree establishes SDAIA as national data and AI authority](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/sdaia-established-2019)
- 2019-08 · Talent — [Abdullah Alghamdi appointed to lead SDAIA by royal order](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/alghamdi-leads-sdaia)
- 2017-10-25 · AI — [Saudi Arabia grants citizenship to humanoid robot Sophia](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/sophia-robot-citizenship)
- 2017-10-24 · Giga-projects — [Crown Prince unveils NEOM, a $500bn tech-led megacity zone](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/neom-announced-fii-2017)
- 2017-10-24 · Events — [First Future Investment Initiative opens in Riyadh](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/fii-2017-first-edition)
- 2016-10-14 · Investment — [PIF and SoftBank sign MoU for tech-focused Vision Fund](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/pif-softbank-vision-fund-mou)
- 2016-04-25 · Policy — [Mohammed bin Salman unveils Saudi Vision 2030](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/vision-2030-launched)
- 2009-09-23 · AI — [KAUST opens as Saudi Arabia's graduate research university](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/kaust-opens-2009)
- 1977-11-29 · AI — [Saudi Arabia creates national science center that became KACST](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/kacst-established-1977)

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Cicada · The signal in Saudi AI.
License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) · Full archive for language models: https://cicadaconsultancy.online/llms-full.txt