--- title: "History of AI in Saudi Arabia: The Full Timeline" url: "https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/timeline" language: "en" last_verified: "2026-10-03" --- # The Saudi AI Timeline From the first research labs to national compute. Every milestone, with sources. ## Foundations (1977–2018) Research institutions, Vision 2030 and the first giga-project announcements set the stage. ### 1977 - **29 November 1977** — [Saudi Arabia creates national science center that became KACST](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/kacst-established-1977) On 29 November 1977 a royal directive created the National Center for Science and Technology, which a royal decree converted on 31 December 1985 into the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST). ### 2009 - **23 September 2009** — [KAUST opens as Saudi Arabia's graduate research university](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/kaust-opens-2009) King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) was established and inaugurated on 23 September 2009 at Thuwal on the Red Sea coast, the Kingdom's first mixed-gender university campus. ### 2016 - **25 April 2016** — [Mohammed bin Salman unveils Saudi Vision 2030](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/vision-2030-launched) _(Landmark)_ On 25 April 2016 the then Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced Saudi Vision 2030, approved by the Council of Ministers, in a television interview with Al Arabiya. - **14 October 2016** — [PIF and SoftBank sign MoU for tech-focused Vision Fund](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/pif-softbank-vision-fund-mou) Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Japan's SoftBank Group signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding on 14 October 2016 to create the SoftBank Vision Fund for global technology investment. ### 2017 - **24 October 2017** — [First Future Investment Initiative opens in Riyadh](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/fii-2017-first-edition) The inaugural Future Investment Initiative (FII), organized by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), ran from 24 to 26 October 2017 at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center and the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, with more than 2,000 attendees. - **24 October 2017** — [Crown Prince unveils NEOM, a $500bn tech-led megacity zone](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/neom-announced-fii-2017) _(Landmark)_ At the first Future Investment Initiative, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced NEOM, a planned business and industrial zone of about 26,500 square kilometers on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. - **25 October 2017** — [Saudi Arabia grants citizenship to humanoid robot Sophia](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/sophia-robot-citizenship) _(Landmark)_ During a panel at the first Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin announced that Sophia, a humanoid robot built by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, had been granted Saudi citizenship, making Saudi Arabia the first country to do so for a robot. ## Building the institutions (2019–2022) SDAIA, the national data and AI strategy and the personal data law create the rulebook. ### 2019 - **August 2019** — [Abdullah Alghamdi appointed to lead SDAIA by royal order](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/alghamdi-leads-sdaia) Dr. - **30 August 2019** — [Royal decree establishes SDAIA as national data and AI authority](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/sdaia-established-2019) _(Landmark)_ A royal decree dated 30 August 2019 established the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), linked directly to the Prime Minister. ### 2020 - **4 February 2020** — [Oracle opens Jeddah region, first public cloud region in Saudi Arabia](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/oracle-jeddah-region-live-2020) Oracle launched its Generation 2 Cloud region in Jeddah, becoming the first public cloud provider with a region inside Saudi Arabia, and said it planned a further region in the Kingdom. - **May 2020** — [SDAIA's Tawakkalna app, launched in 2020, is reported to serve 34m users](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/tawakkalna-launched-2020) The Tawakkalna app was launched in May 2020, originally for COVID-19 management, and is built and operated by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA). - **21 October 2020** — [SDAIA launches National Strategy for Data and AI at first Global AI Summit](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/nsdai-launched-gain-2020) _(Landmark)_ The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) unveiled the National Strategy for Data and AI (NSDAI) on 21 October 2020 at the first Global AI Summit, held virtually. ### 2021 - **16 September 2021** — [Saudi Arabia issues its first Personal Data Protection Law](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/pdpl-royal-decree-2021) _(Landmark)_ Royal Decree M/19 of 16 September 2021, approving Cabinet Resolution 98 of 14 September, issued the Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL), which was published in the Official Gazette on 24 September 2021. ### 2022 - **1 February 2022** — [LEAP22 opens in Riyadh; $6.4bn of tech investments reported](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/leap22-opens) The first LEAP technology conference opened in Riyadh on 1 February 2022 and was reported to have secured $6.4 billion of investments in future technologies. - **2 February 2022** — [Aramco launches $1bn Prosperity7 Ventures at LEAP22](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/prosperity7-launch-leap22) Aramco publicly launched Prosperity7 Ventures, a $1 billion venture fund, on 2 February 2022 at LEAP22, although it had operated for more than a year. - **4 February 2022** — [Saudi AI firm Mozn raises $10m Series A led by Raed Ventures](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/mozn-series-a-2022) Mozn, a Riyadh-based AI company focused on Arabic natural-language understanding and risk management, raised a $10 million Series A led by Raed Ventures, with Shorooq Partners, VentureSouq, Sukna Ventures and others participating. - **20 April 2022** — [Foodics raises $170m Series C led by Prosus and Sanabil](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/foodics-series-c-2022) Saudi restaurant-technology and fintech platform Foodics closed a $170 million Series C co-led by Prosus and Sanabil Investments, with participation from Sequoia Capital India and existing investors STV and Endeavor Catalyst. - **22 August 2022** — [Tamara raises $100m Series B led by Sanabil](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/tamara-series-b-2022) Saudi buy-now-pay-later fintech Tamara raised a $100 million Series B equity round led by Sanabil Investments. - **13 September 2022** — [Second Global AI Summit draws 15,000 participants in Riyadh](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/gain-2022-second-edition) The second Global AI Summit, organized by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), ran for three days from 13 September 2022 at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center, with more than 15,000 participants and more than 200 speakers from more than 90 countries. - **25 October 2022** — [FII6 closes with more than $9bn of deals](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/fii6-2022) The sixth Future Investment Initiative ran from 25 to 27 October 2022 in Riyadh. ## Acceleration (2023–2024) Hyperscale cloud regions, LEAP deal-making and the first Saudi Arabic language models. ### 2023 - **6 February 2023** — [Oracle commits $1.5bn to Saudi cloud regions, including Riyadh](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/oracle-1-5bn-saudi-cloud-2023) Oracle signed a memorandum with Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to invest $1.5 billion in the Kingdom, adding a Riyadh public cloud region to its Jeddah region and a planned NEOM region. - **6 February 2023** — [Microsoft announces $2.1bn for a hyperscale cloud in Saudi Arabia](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/microsoft-2-1bn-cloud-leap23) At LEAP 2023 Microsoft announced $2.1 billion for a hyperscale cloud in the Kingdom. - **6 February 2023** — [LEAP23 in Riyadh announces about $9bn of tech investments](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/leap23-opens) LEAP 2023 ran from 6 to 9 February 2023 in Riyadh and announced about $9 billion of investments; a later organizer recap puts the total at more than $9.5 billion. - **27 March 2023** — [Royal decree amends the Personal Data Protection Law](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/pdpl-amended-2023) Royal Decree M/148 of 27 March 2023 amended the Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL). - **25 July 2023** — [Cabinet approves International Center for AI Research and Ethics](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/icaire-cabinet-approval-2023) On 25 July 2023 the Cabinet approved the creation of the International Center for AI Research and Ethics (ICAIRE) in Riyadh, with legal personality and financial and administrative independence. - **14 September 2023** — [SDAIA publishes AI Ethics Principles version 2.0](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/ai-ethics-principles-v2-2023) The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) published version 2.0 of its AI Ethics Principles on 14 September 2023. - **14 September 2023** — [PDPL takes effect; full enforcement follows in September 2024](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/pdpl-in-force-2023) _(Landmark)_ The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) published the Implementing Regulations of the Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) and the Personal Data Transfer Regulations on 7 September 2023, a week before the amended law took effect on 14 September 2023. - **17 October 2023** — [Tareq Amin, ex-Rakuten Symphony chief, joins Aramco Digital as CEO](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/tareq-amin-joins-aramco-digital-2023) Tareq Amin, previously CEO of Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony, joined Aramco Digital as CEO, as reported on 17 October 2023. - **15 November 2023** — [Google Cloud opens Dammam region in Saudi Arabia](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/google-cloud-dammam-region-2023) Google Cloud announced the opening of its Dammam cloud region on 15 November 2023 at a launch attended by CEO Thomas Kurian, with services sold in the Kingdom through the reseller CNTXT. - **18 December 2023** — [Tamara raises $340m Series C, becomes Saudi fintech unicorn](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/tamara-series-c-unicorn-2023) Tamara announced a $340 million Series C on 18 December 2023, co-led by SNB Capital and Sanabil Investments at a $1 billion valuation, making it the Kingdom's first homegrown fintech unicorn. ### 2024 - **10 January 2024** — [SDAIA issues generative AI guidelines for government and the public](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/genai-guidelines-2024) The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) published its Generative AI Guidelines for government entities on 10 January 2024 and a companion version for the public on 11 January. - **February 2024** — [PIF unveils Alat, an advanced technology company with $100bn planned by 2030](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/alat-launched-2024) In February 2024 Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced Alat, a new company of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) intended to build the Kingdom's electronics and advanced-industry base, with $100 billion of planned investment by 2030 and 39,000 jobs targeted. - **4 March 2024** — [Salla raises $130m pre-IPO round led by Investcorp and Sanabil](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/salla-pre-ipo-130m-2024) Saudi e-commerce enablement platform Salla raised $130 million in a pre-IPO equity round co-led by Investcorp and Sanabil Investments, with participation from STV, Bloomberg reported on 4 March 2024. - **4 March 2024** — [LEAP24 opens in Riyadh with $11.9bn in announced investments](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/leap24-opens) LEAP 2024 ran from 4 to 7 March 2024 at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center. - **4 March 2024** — [DataVolt pledges $5bn for 300MW+ of Saudi data centers](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/datavolt-5bn-datacentres-leap24) At LEAP 2024, DataVolt, a Riyadh-based developer founded in 2023, committed $5 billion to build new data centers in the Kingdom with combined capacity above 300 megawatts. - **4 March 2024** — [AWS commits $5.3bn to a Saudi cloud region](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/aws-5-3bn-saudi-region-announced-2024) _(Landmark)_ Announced at LEAP 2024, Amazon Web Services (AWS) committed more than $5.3 billion (SAR 19.88 billion) to build its first infrastructure region in Saudi Arabia, initially slated for 2026. - **4 March 2024** — [Aramco unveils Metabrain, a 250bn-parameter industrial AI model](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/aramco-metabrain-2024) _(Landmark)_ At LEAP 2024 Aramco unveiled Aramco Metabrain AI, which the company describes as the industry's first generative AI model, with 250 billion parameters trained on 7 trillion data points from its roughly 90-year history. - **20 March 2024** — [Report: PIF in talks with a16z on a $40bn AI investment fund](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/pif-40bn-ai-fund-report-2024) On 19-20 March 2024 The New York Times reported that the Public Investment Fund (PIF) was in talks with Andreessen Horowitz and possibly other firms on a roughly $40 billion fund to invest in AI, with a16z and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan discussing a Riyadh office. - **21 May 2024** — [SDAIA and IBM launch ALLaM Arabic LLM on watsonx](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/allam-on-ibm-watsonx-2024) _(Landmark)_ On 21 May 2024, at IBM's Think Boston, SDAIA and IBM announced that SDAIA's Arabic large language model ALLaM is available on IBM's watsonx platform, where clients can train, tune and deploy it through watsonx.ai. - **1 July 2024** — [KAUST launches Center of Excellence on Generative AI](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/kaust-genai-centre-of-excellence-2024) KAUST announced its Center of Excellence on Generative AI on 1 July 2024, chaired by Bernard Ghanem with Jürgen Schmidhuber as co-chair. - **30 July 2024** — [Intelmatix raises $20m Series A for EDIX decision-intelligence platform](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/intelmatix-series-a-2024) Saudi deep-tech company Intelmatix raised a $20 million Series A on 30 July 2024, led by Shorooq Partners. - **6 August 2024** — [Oracle opens second Saudi public cloud region in Riyadh](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/oracle-riyadh-region-live-2024) Oracle announced on 6 August 2024 that its second public cloud region in the Kingdom, in Riyadh, was open, as part of a $1.5 billion investment. - **September 2024** — [SDAIA launches 'One Million Saudis in AI' (SAMAI) program](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/samai-one-million-saudis-launched-2024) In September 2024, at the third Global AI Summit, Education Minister Yousef Al-Benyan and SDAIA President Abdullah Alghamdi launched the One Million Saudis in AI initiative, known as SAMAI, with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development. - **10 September 2024** — [Third Global AI Summit draws 30,000 delegates to Riyadh](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/gain-2024-third-edition) _(Landmark)_ The third Global AI Summit, organized by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), ran from 10 to 12 September 2024 and reported more than 30,000 delegates, more than 450 speakers from 100 countries, 150 sessions, more than 25 launches and more than 80 agreements and MoUs. - **11 September 2024** — [SDAIA announces UNESCO Category 2 status for ICAIRE at Global AI Summit](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/icaire-unesco-category-2-2024) The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) announced on 11 September 2024 at the Global AI Summit that the International Center for AI Research and Ethics (ICAIRE) had been classified as a UNESCO Category 2 center, through a tripartite agreement between the Kingdom, UNESCO and ICAIRE. - **12 September 2024** — [SDAIA publishes national AI Adoption Framework](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/ai-adoption-framework-2024) The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) published its AI Adoption Framework on 12 September 2024, during the Global AI Summit. - **17 September 2024** — [Saudi Arabia jumps to sixth in UN e-government ranking](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/un-egdi-2024-saudi-sixth) The 2024 UN E-Government Survey placed Saudi Arabia in the 'Very High' category, sixth worldwide in the E-Government Development Index (EGDI), up 25 places from 31st in 2022, and fourth globally on the Online Service Index. - **17 September 2024** — [Groq and Aramco Digital plan 'world's largest' AI inference center](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/groq-aramco-digital-inference-plan-2024) In September 2024 Groq and Aramco Digital disclosed a plan to build what they called the world's largest AI inference data center in Saudi Arabia, starting with 19,000 language processing units (LPUs) and potentially expanding to 200,000. - **28 October 2024** — [Aramco's Wa'ed Ventures earmarks $100m for AI startups](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/waed-100m-ai-startups-2024) Wa'ed Ventures, Aramco's wholly owned venture arm, allocated $100 million from its $500 million fund to early-stage AI investments, aiming to position Saudi Arabia as a global AI hub. - **29 October 2024** — [FII8 closes in Riyadh with $70bn of announced deals](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/fii8-riyadh-2024) The eighth Future Investment Initiative ran from 29 to 31 October 2024 in Riyadh, with organizers expecting 7,000 participants and about 520 global CEOs. - **30 October 2024** — [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) _(Landmark)_ At FII8, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Google Cloud announced a partnership to create a global AI hub near Dammam in the Eastern Province, with research on Arabic models and Saudi-specific AI applications and AI programs for millions of students and professionals. - **6 November 2024** — [Bloomberg: Saudi plans up to $100bn 'Project Transcendence' AI group](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/project-transcendence-report-2024) _(Landmark)_ Bloomberg reported on 6 November 2024 that Saudi Arabia was planning a government-backed AI and data-infrastructure group, code-named Project Transcendence, with funding of $50-100 billion, modeled on PIF's Alat. - **13 November 2024** — [Lean Technologies raises $67.5m Series B led by General Catalyst](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/lean-series-b-2024) Riyadh-based open-banking and payments infrastructure company Lean Technologies raised a $67.5 million Series B led by General Catalyst, with Bain Capital Ventures, the Duquesne Family Office and Arbor Ventures participating, bringing total funding above $100 million. ## The national compute era (2025–2026) HUMAIN, gigawatt-scale data centers and frontier AI partnerships with the world's largest chipmakers. ### 2025 - **February 2025** — [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) In February 2025 NEOM and DataVolt agreed a $5 billion net-zero, AI-focused data center campus at Oxagon, planned to reach 1.5 GW with a first 300 MW phase operational in 2028, powered by renewable energy and using advanced cooling. - **9 February 2025** — [Groq switches on Dammam AI inference cluster, which it calls EMEA's largest](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/groq-dammam-cluster-opens-2025) Groq announced at LEAP 2025 that its second GroqCloud region, in Dammam, built with Aramco Digital, is live, and it called the site the largest AI inferencing facility in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. - **9 February 2025** — [Alat and Lenovo commit $2bn to Riyadh AI and robotics manufacturing hub](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/alat-lenovo-2bn-hub-2025) At LEAP 2025, PIF's Alat and Lenovo announced an advanced manufacturing and technology center integrating AI and robotics in Riyadh, with $2 billion of investment and a Lenovo regional headquarters. - **9 February 2025** — [LEAP25 opens with $14.9bn in announced AI and tech investments](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/leap25-opens) _(Landmark)_ LEAP 2025 ran from 9 to 12 February 2025 in Riyadh. - **6 March 2025** — [SDAIA lists ALLaM 7B on Hugging Face](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/allam-7b-hugging-face-2025) The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) announced on 6 March 2025 that its ALLaM 7B model was listed on Hugging Face, making the Arabic-focused model available to developers and researchers worldwide. - **14 April 2025** — [CST publishes draft Global AI Hub Law with 'data embassies'](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/global-ai-hub-law-draft-2025) _(Landmark)_ On 14 April 2025 the Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) opened public consultation, until 14 May 2025, on a draft Global AI Hub Law. - **12 May 2025** — [Tareq Amin takes the helm as HUMAIN CEO](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/tareq-amin-named-humain-ceo-2025) Tareq Amin was appointed CEO of HUMAIN in May 2025 when the PIF company launched. - **12 May 2025** — [Crown Prince launches HUMAIN, PIF's full-stack AI company](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-launched-2025) _(Landmark)_ On 12 May 2025, on the eve of President Trump's visit, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, PIF chairman, had launched HUMAIN to operate and invest across the AI value chain: data centers, AI infrastructure and cloud, advanced AI models including a multimodal Arabic large language model, and AI solutions. - **13 May 2025** — [AWS and HUMAIN announce $5bn-plus 'AI Zone' in Saudi Arabia](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-aws-ai-zone-2025) Amazon Web Services (AWS) and HUMAIN announced an AI Zone with investment of more than $5 billion, combining AWS infrastructure, semiconductors and UltraCluster networking with services such as SageMaker, Bedrock and Amazon Q, plus a unified AI agent marketplace for government. - **13 May 2025** — [Saudi Arabia pledges $600bn US investment during Trump visit](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/us-saudi-investment-forum-600bn-2025) _(Landmark)_ During President Trump's Gulf visit, Saudi Arabia pledged $600 billion of investments in the United States, with $300 billion of deals reportedly signed at the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh on 13 May 2025. - **13 May 2025** — [Nvidia to supply HUMAIN with 18,000 GB300 chips in first tranche](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-nvidia-18000-chips-2025) _(Landmark)_ At the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh on 13 May 2025, Nvidia said it would supply HUMAIN with more than 18,000 of its latest GB300 Grace Blackwell chips with InfiniBand networking in a first deployment, and several hundred thousand processors over five years. - **13 May 2025** — [AMD and HUMAIN announce up to $10bn AI infrastructure collaboration](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-amd-10bn-2025) _(Landmark)_ AMD announced a collaboration with HUMAIN involving investment of up to $10 billion to build about 500 MW of AI compute capacity, with reports describing facilities in both Saudi Arabia and the United States. - **14 May 2025** — [STV launches Google-backed AI fund that it sizes at $100m](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/stv-google-100m-ai-fund-2025) Saudi venture firm STV announced an AI fund backed by Google and sized by STV at $100 million. - **16 May 2025** — [DataVolt and Supermicro sign MoU for at least $20bn of AI systems](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/datavolt-supermicro-20bn-mou-2025) Supermicro and DataVolt signed a memorandum of understanding on 16 May 2025 to build hyperscale AI campuses, initially in Saudi Arabia, with Supermicro supplying ultra-dense GPU platforms, storage, networking and liquid-cooled racks. - **June 2025** — [MCIT and SDAIA issue National Data Center Strategy targeting 1.5GW by 2030](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/national-data-center-strategy-2025) _(Landmark)_ In June 2025 the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) launched the National Data Center Strategy, targeting up to 1.5 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2030, one of the Middle East's largest planned national builds. - **15 July 2025** — [Lucidya raises $30m Series B, which it calls Saudi Arabia's largest AI round](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/lucidya-series-b-30m-2025) Lucidya, a Riyadh-based AI customer-experience platform founded in 2016, closed a $30 million Series B led by Impact46, with Wa'ed Ventures, Takamol Ventures, SparkLabs and existing backers Rua Growth Fund and ARG. - **6 August 2025** — [Saudi Arabia hosts OpenAI open models via HUMAIN-Groq partnership](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/openai-gpt-oss-humain-groq-2025) On 6 August 2025 HUMAIN and Groq announced the Middle East's first deployment of OpenAI's open-weight gpt-oss-120B and gpt-oss-20B models, running on Groq's inference infrastructure inside HUMAIN's sovereign data centers in the Kingdom, Arab News reported on 7 August. - **25 August 2025** — [HUMAIN breaks ground on first data centers in Riyadh and Dammam](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-breaks-ground-riyadh-dammam-2025) HUMAIN began construction of its first data centers in Riyadh and Dammam in late August 2025, with initial capacity of up to 100 MW each and a launch then expected in the second quarter of 2026, according to CEO Tareq Amin, as reported by Bloomberg. - **25 August 2025** — [HUMAIN launches Arabic chat app powered by ALLaM 34B](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-chat-allam-34b-launch-2025) _(Landmark)_ HUMAIN launched HUMAIN Chat on web, iOS and Android on 25 August 2025, initially for users in Saudi Arabia, powered by the new ALLaM 34B model. - **27 October 2025** — [HUMAIN and Qualcomm plan 200MW of AI200/AI250 inference racks](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-qualcomm-200mw-2025) HUMAIN and Qualcomm announced a collaboration to deploy 200 MW of Qualcomm AI200 and AI250 rack-scale AI inference solutions in Saudi Arabia beginning in 2026, which they describe as the world's first fully optimized edge-to-cloud hybrid inferencing service. - **27 October 2025** — [HUMAIN unveils HUMAIN One, which it calls the first AI operating system](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-one-ai-os-2025) At FII9 HUMAIN unveiled HUMAIN One, which it describes as the world's first AI operating system, consolidating HR, finance, procurement and productivity tasks in a language-based interface. - **27 October 2025** — [FII9 closes with over $50bn in deals and pledges](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/fii9-riyadh-2025) The ninth Future Investment Initiative ran from 27 to 30 October 2025 in Riyadh under the theme 'The Key to Prosperity', ending with more than $50 billion in signed agreements and investment pledges across AI, advanced technology, renewable energy and infrastructure. - **28 October 2025** — [HUMAIN and Blackstone-backed AirTrunk plan data center campus with $3bn start](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-airtrunk-3bn-2025) On 28 October 2025 HUMAIN and AirTrunk, backed by Blackstone and CPP Investments, announced a partnership to build and operate data centers in Saudi Arabia, with an initial investment of about $3 billion. - **28 October 2025** — [Aramco signs term sheet for significant minority stake in HUMAIN](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/aramco-humain-minority-stake-2025) _(Landmark)_ The Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Aramco signed a non-binding term sheet on 28 October 2025 under which Aramco would acquire a significant minority stake in HUMAIN, with PIF keeping majority ownership and both contributing AI assets, capabilities and talent. - **9 November 2025** — [SAMAI trains more than one million Saudis in AI, 52% of them women](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/samai-one-million-reached-2025) The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development announced at a gala in Riyadh on 9 November 2025 that the SAMAI program had trained more than one million Saudis in AI after its September 2024 launch. - **18 November 2025** — [US and Saudi Arabia sign strategic AI memorandum of understanding](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/us-saudi-ai-mou-2025) _(Landmark)_ President Trump and the Crown Prince announced a new AI memorandum of understanding during their White House meeting on 18 November 2025, which gives Saudi Arabia access to US technology systems with protections against use by adversaries. - **18 November 2025** — [Crown Prince lifts planned US investment to nearly $1 trillion](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/mbs-trump-near-1tn-pledge-2025) _(Landmark)_ On 18 November 2025, in the Oval Office, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Saudi Arabia would raise its planned investment in the US economy to nearly $1 trillion over the next year, up from the $600 billion Trump had cited. - **19 November 2025** — [HUMAIN leads $900m Series C in Luma AI at $4bn valuation](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/luma-ai-900m-series-c-humain-2025) Luma AI raised a $900 million Series C led by HUMAIN, with AMD Ventures and existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz, valuing the video-AI company at $4 billion. - **19 November 2025** — [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) AMD, Cisco and HUMAIN announced a joint venture in November 2025, around the US-Saudi Investment Forum, to deploy up to 1 GW of AI infrastructure in Saudi Arabia by 2030. - **19 November 2025** — [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) _(Landmark)_ The US Commerce Department said on 19 November 2025 that it approved exports of up to 35,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips each to Saudi Arabia's HUMAIN and the UAE's G42. - **19 November 2025** — [xAI and HUMAIN to build 500MW data center in Saudi Arabia](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-xai-500mw-2025) _(Landmark)_ Elon Musk announced at the US-Saudi Investment Forum on 19 November 2025 that xAI, HUMAIN and Nvidia will build a 500 MW AI data center in Saudi Arabia, powered by Nvidia chips. - **19 November 2025** — [HUMAIN and Nvidia plan up to 600,000 GPUs over three years](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-nvidia-600000-gpus-2025) _(Landmark)_ At the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, HUMAIN and Nvidia announced an expanded partnership to deploy up to 600,000 Nvidia GPUs, including GB300 Blackwell platforms, over three years across Saudi Arabia and the United States. - **18 December 2025** — [stc's center3 and HUMAIN sign MoU for AI data center joint venture](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/stc-humain-datacenter-jv-mou-2025) stc's subsidiary center3 and HUMAIN signed an MoU on 18 December 2025 to form a joint venture, 51% HUMAIN and 49% stc, to develop and operate AI-focused data centers with an initial capacity of up to 250 MW and a long-term target of 1 GW, subject to customer commitments. ### 2026 - **January 2026** — [Saudi Arabia leads Middle East VC in 2025 with $1.72bn, per MAGNiTT](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/saudi-vc-record-2025-magnitt) MAGNiTT's annual report, covered in January 2026, showed Saudi Arabia as the Middle East's largest venture market in 2025, with $1.72 billion raised, up 145% year on year, across 257 deals, up 45%, making it the region's most active market by both funding and deal count. - **January 2026** — [SDAIA lays foundation stone for 480MW Hexagon government data center](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/hexagon-government-data-centre-groundbreaking-2026) _(Landmark)_ The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) laid the foundation stone in early January 2026 for Hexagon, a 480 MW government data center in Riyadh covering about 30 million square feet, which SDAIA describes as the world's largest government data center and says it has designed to Tier IV. - **21 January 2026** — [HUMAIN and National Infrastructure Fund agree $1.2bn financing framework](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-infra-1-2bn-financing-framework-2026) On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the National Infrastructure Fund (Infra) and HUMAIN announced a non-binding financing framework of up to $1.2 billion for about 250 MW of hyperscale AI data center capacity, reported on 21-22 January 2026. - **28 January 2026** — [SDAIA launches SAMAI 2 and 40 AI academic programs at ICAN 2026](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/ican-2026-samai-2-academic-programmes) At the International Conference on Data and AI Capacity Building (ICAN 2026) at King Saud University, Education Minister Yousef Al-Benyan and Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) President Abdullah Alghamdi launched SAMAI 2 with 11 government ministries, aimed at upskilling the government workforce of about 1.2 million people and building on SAMAI 1's 1.1 million trainees. - **10 February 2026** — [HUMAIN unveils agentic HUMAIN OS at PIF Private Sector Forum](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-os-pif-private-sector-forum-2026) At the Public Investment Fund's Private Sector Forum in Riyadh (9-10 February 2026), HUMAIN CEO Tareq Amin presented HUMAIN OS, an AI-native, intent-driven operating system designed to orchestrate tasks across enterprise systems. - **11 February 2026** — [Microsoft confirms Saudi Arabia East cloud region for Q4 2026](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/microsoft-saudi-region-q4-2026-confirmed) Microsoft confirmed in February 2026 that customers will be able to run workloads from its Saudi Arabia East datacenter region in the Eastern Province from the fourth quarter of 2026, with three availability zones and integration into its network of more than 70 Azure regions. - **22 February 2026** — [Saudi Arabia becomes first Arab country to join the Global Partnership on AI](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/saudi-joins-gpai-2026) _(Landmark)_ Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) President Abdullah Alghamdi announced at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 that Saudi Arabia had become the first Arab member of the OECD-hosted Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, which has about 46 members. - **March 2026** — [Operational data center capacity reaches 467MW in Q1 2026, per official figures](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/datacentre-capacity-467mw-q1-2026) Saudi Arabia's operational data center capacity reached 467 MW in the first quarter of 2026, up from 68 MW in 2021, according to official Saudi figures cited by Fortune in September 2026. - **10 March 2026** — [Aramco reports $5.3bn technology value for 2025, $2.6bn from AI](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/aramco-ai-technology-value-2025-results) With its 2025 results, Aramco reported Technology Realized Value of $5.3 billion, of which $2.6 billion was attributed directly to AI-driven solutions across about 500 use cases, bringing cumulative value to $11.3 billion since the metric began in 2023, a figure Aramco says is verified by an independent third party. - **10 March 2026** — [Cabinet designates 2026 as Saudi Arabia's 'Year of Artificial Intelligence'](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/year-of-ai-2026-cabinet) _(Landmark)_ The Council of Ministers, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman by video conference on Tuesday 10 March 2026, designated 2026 the Year of Artificial Intelligence. - **3 April 2026** — [SDAIA opens consultation on draft Responsible AI Policy with four risk tiers](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/sdaia-responsible-ai-policy-draft-2026) On 3 April 2026 the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) opened a one-month consultation, closing 3 May 2026, on a draft Responsible AI Policy applying to the government, private and non-profit sectors and to individuals who develop or publish AI applications. - **7 April 2026** — [Saudi AI company registrations reach 19,638 in 2025, up 240% since 2021](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/saudi-ai-company-registrations-2025) The Ministry of Commerce's Q1 2026 business-sector bulletin, reported on 7-8 April 2026, showed commercial registrations in the AI sector at 19,638 in 2025, up about 240% from 5,762 in 2021. - **16 May 2026** — [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) Andreessen Horowitz led a $25 million Series A in Stitch, a cloud-native operating system for financial institutions, in what Arab News described as the firm's first Gulf investment. - **21 May 2026** — [HUMAIN names Accenture its strategic reinvention and AI partner in Saudi Arabia](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-accenture-strategic-partner-2026) HUMAIN appointed Accenture as its Strategic Reinvention and AI Partner in Saudi Arabia in May 2026. - **1 June 2026** — [HUMAIN to bring Nvidia DRIVE Hyperion robotaxi platform to Saudi Arabia](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-nvidia-drive-hyperion-robotaxi-2026) At Nvidia GTC Taipei on 1 June 2026, Nvidia said HUMAIN is working to introduce robotaxis built on the DRIVE Hyperion platform in Saudi Arabia, extending the platform's footprint to the Middle East alongside partners such as Foxconn, VinFast and Uber. - **July 2026** — [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) entArabi's monthly investment report put Saudi startup funding at $93.5 million across seven deals (five disclosed) in July 2026, or 2.8% of regional funding. - **9 July 2026** — [HUMAIN and Canada's Cohere agree to collaborate on AI compute and sovereign models](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-cohere-partnership-2026) HUMAIN and Canada's Cohere announced on 9 July 2026 a collaboration covering AI compute and sovereign AI models, according to a joint statement reported from Riyadh. - **31 August 2026** — [DataVolt and HUMAIN start building 100MW AI data center at NEOM's Oxagon](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/datavolt-humain-oxagon-construction-2026) DataVolt and HUMAIN launched construction of a 100 MW AI data center at Oxagon in NEOM, the first part of a 360 MW phase of the campus, with the first 100 MW expected to be available in 2028. - **31 August 2026** — [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) At LEAP 2026 Amazon Web Services (AWS) said its first Saudi infrastructure region, an investment of more than $5.3 billion (SAR 19.88 billion), is on track to launch in December 2026 with three availability zones, bringing AWS to 40 regions. - **31 August 2026** — [LEAP 2026 closes with nearly $15bn in AI and infrastructure announcements](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/leap26-opens-riyadh) _(Landmark)_ The fifth LEAP, under the theme 'Into New Worlds', ran from 31 August to 3 September 2026 at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center in Malham, and closed with nearly $15 billion in launches, investments and agreements, according to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and Asharq Al-Awsat, citing the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). - **1 September 2026** — [Together AI and HUMAIN plan 250MW Saudi data center targeting $5bn revenue](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/together-ai-humain-250mw-2026) At LEAP 2026 Together AI and HUMAIN announced a 250 MW data center in Saudi Arabia to serve AI training and inference workloads across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, targeting $5 billion of gross annualized revenue in its first operating year. - **1 September 2026** — [LEAP 2026 day two adds $2.5bn for data centers and cloud](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/leap26-day-two-data-centre-investments) On day two of LEAP 2026, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) reported about $2.5 billion in new investments. - **1 September 2026** — [HUMAIN launches Nvidia Blackwell Ultra cloud at 1.1MW, targets 35MW in 2027](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-nvidia-ai-cloud-live-2026) HUMAIN launched its Nvidia-powered AI cloud, running HGX B300 Blackwell Ultra systems, with 1.1 MW of operational capacity, per Enterprise, and utilization above 90%, per HUMAIN. - **3 September 2026** — [HUMAIN unveils humain-m3, a 428bn-parameter Arabic model built with MiniMax](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-m3-arabic-frontier-model-2026) 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 trillion Arabic-native tokens. - **9 September 2026** — [HUMAIN prepares IPO and outside capital, Fortune reports](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/humain-seeks-external-investment-2026) Fortune reported on 9 September 2026 that HUMAIN has begun preparations for an IPO. - **15 September 2026** — [Riyadh hosts Global AI Week with the fourth GAIN Summit and UNESCO ethics forum](https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/gain-2026-fourth-edition-riyadh) _(Landmark)_ 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 Center under the patronage of the Crown Prince. --- 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