The Numbers
Saudi AI, tracked from public sources.
Announced AI & data center investment
$49bn
20 announced commitments
Not counted in the total: 15 pledges, plans, MoUs and reported talks worth $2,419bn as announced.
| Date | Who | Amount | All commitments | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Sept 2026 | HUMAINExternal investors (reported) | Reported$2.5bn | REPORTED: Bloomberg (via Fortune, 9 Sept 2026) says HUMAIN plans a $2.5bn fund for data-centre expansion; CEO Tareq Amin has also said he aims to list in Saudi Arabia and New York by 2029. | fortune.com |
| 1 Sept 2026 | Al Moammar Information SystemsSaudi Arabia | Commitment$1.2bn | Data-centre expansion to 192 MW total capacity (LEAP 2026). | mcit.gov.sa |
| 1 Sept 2026 | NHC InnovationKhuzam Digital Valley | Plan$0.88bn | SAR 3.3bn data-centre project targeting 65 MW by 2033; NAVER Innovation and BytePlus anchor customers. | english.aawsat.com |
| 1 Sept 2026 | Vision Invest and Africa Finance CorporationWIOCC | Commitment$0.3bn | Investment in African digital infrastructure announced at LEAP 2026. | mcit.gov.sa |
| 1 Sept 2026 | MobilyBytePlus | Commitment$0.15bn | More than $150m for a cloud region (another report cites $120-150m). | mcit.gov.sa |
| 21 Jan 2026 | National Infrastructure Fund (Infra)HUMAIN | MoU / non-binding$1.2bn | Non-binding financing framework for about 250 MW of AI data-centre capacity. | arabnews.com |
| Jan 2026 | SDAIAHexagon government data centre | Plan$2.7bn | 480 MW Tier IV government data centre in Riyadh; cost estimated at about $2.7bn by Gulf News (SDAIA has not disclosed a cost). | w.media |
| 19 Nov 2025 | HUMAINLuma AI | Commitment$0.9bn | HUMAIN led $900m Series C at $4bn valuation; Luma to use Project Halo (2 GW). | advanced-television.com |
| 18 Nov 2025 | Saudi ArabiaUnited States | Pledge$1,000bn | Crown Prince said planned US investment would rise to nearly $1tn over the next year (political pledge). | foxnews.com |
| 28 Oct 2025 | HUMAINAirTrunk (Blackstone, CPP Investments) | Commitment$3bn | Initial investment for a data-centre campus in Saudi Arabia. | enterpriseam.com |
| 28 Oct 2025 | AramcoHUMAIN / PIF | MoU / non-bindingUndisclosed | Non-binding term sheet for a significant minority stake in HUMAIN; stake size and price undisclosed. | wamda.com |
| 16 May 2025 | DataVoltSupermicro | MoU / non-binding$20bn | MoU, not an investment commitment: $20bn is Supermicro's estimated minimum market value of the products contemplated (GPU platforms, storage, networking, liquid cooling), not DataVolt capital; subject to definitive agreements. | ir.supermicro.com |
| 14 May 2025 | STVGoogle | Commitment$0.1bn | STV's $100m AI fund (size per STV) for early-stage MENA AI startups, backed by Google; Google's own commitment is not disclosed. | wamda.com |
| 13 May 2025 | Saudi ArabiaUnited States | Pledge$600bn | Pledged US investment during Trump visit ($300bn of deals reportedly signed at the forum); later raised to nearly $1tn. | businessday.co.za |
| 13 May 2025 | AMDHUMAIN | Commitment$10bn | Up to $10bn collaboration for about 500 MW of AI compute. | siliconangle.com |
| 13 May 2025 | AWSHUMAIN | Commitment$5bn | AI Zone investment of more than $5bn (separate from the $5.3bn region). | siliconangle.com |
| 9 Feb 2025 | Groq and Aramco DigitalSaudi Arabia | Commitment$1.5bn | Announced at LEAP 2025 as a $1.5bn Groq and Aramco Digital investment; Groq describes it as a $1.5bn commitment from Saudi Arabia for expanded LPU inference infrastructure. The Dammam cluster with 19,000 LPUs is live (online in December 2024 per Groq). | middleeastainews.com |
| 9 Feb 2025 | AlatLenovo | Commitment$2bn | Advanced manufacturing and technology centre integrating AI and robotics in Riyadh. | gulfbusiness.com |
| 9 Feb 2025 | SalesforceSaudi Arabia | Commitment$0.5bn | Hyperforce platform expansion announced at LEAP 2025. | gulfbusiness.com |
| 9 Feb 2025 | DatabricksSaudi Arabia | Commitment$0.3bn | Data engineering and AI platforms investment announced at LEAP 2025. | gulfbusiness.com |
| 9 Feb 2025 | Tencent CloudSaudi Arabia | Commitment$0.15bn | First Middle East cloud region announced at LEAP 2025. | gulfbusiness.com |
| 9 Feb 2025 | SambaNovaSaudi Arabia | Commitment$0.14bn | Advanced AI infrastructure announced at LEAP 2025. | gulfbusiness.com |
| Feb 2025 | DataVoltNEOM / Oxagon | Plan$5bn | 1.5 GW net-zero AI data-centre campus at Oxagon (about $5bn, Feb 2025). The Feb 2025 plan cited a first 300 MW phase for 2028; in Aug 2026 construction began on a first 100 MW within a 360 MW phase, expected from 2028. | malaymail.com |
| 6 Nov 2024 | Saudi government / PIF (reported)Project Transcendence (reported) | Reported$100bn | REPORTED plan by Bloomberg for a $50-100bn AI and data-infrastructure group; never officially announced under this name in sources reviewed. | bloomberg.com |
| 30 Oct 2024 | PIFGoogle Cloud | Commitment$10bn | Global AI hub near Dammam; $10bn joint investment stated in May 2025 release (Oct 2024 announcement cited up to $71bn GDP impact). | googlecloudpresscorner.com |
| 28 Oct 2024 | Wa'ed Ventures (Aramco)Early-stage AI startups | Commitment$0.1bn | $100m allocation from the $500m Wa'ed fund for early-stage AI. | wamda.com |
| 20 Mar 2024 | PIF (reported)Andreessen Horowitz (reported) | Reported$40bn | REPORTED talks on a roughly $40bn AI fund (NYT); no official confirmation found. | cnbc.com |
| 4 Mar 2024 | AWSSaudi Arabia | Commitment$5.3bn | First AWS infrastructure region in the Kingdom; launch confirmed for December 2026. | gulfbusiness.com |
| 4 Mar 2024 | DataVoltSaudi Arabia | Commitment$5bn | Data centres with combined capacity above 300 MW announced at LEAP 2024. | gulfbusiness.com |
| Feb 2024 | PIFAlat | Plan$100bn | Alat, a PIF company, plans $100bn of investment by 2030 in electronics and advanced industries (39,000 jobs targeted). | equalocean.com |
| 6 Feb 2023 | MicrosoftSaudi Arabia (MCIT) | Commitment$2.1bn | Announced at LEAP 2023 for a global super-scaler cloud in the Kingdom. | mena.entrepreneur.com |
| 6 Feb 2023 | OracleMCIT | MoU / non-binding$1.5bn | MoU to invest in Saudi cloud regions including Riyadh, alongside Jeddah and planned NEOM. | gulfnews.com |
| 2 Feb 2022 | AramcoProsperity7 Ventures | Commitment$1bn | Aramco publicly launches $1bn venture fund Prosperity7 at LEAP22. | unlock-bc.com |
| 24 Oct 2017 | Saudi government / PIFNEOM investors | Plan$500bn | NEOM zone announced at FII with planned contributions of more than $500bn from government, PIF and international investors. | gulfbusiness.com |
| 14 Oct 2016 | PIFSoftBank Group | MoU / non-binding$45bn | Non-binding MoU for SoftBank Vision Fund; PIF would consider up to $45bn over five years (SoftBank at least $25bn). Potentially $100bn with other investors. | arabnews.com |
Data center & cloud sites
6,338MW
26 sites · MW where disclosed
| Company | City | MW | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HUMAIN Project Halo AI superclusterHUMAIN | Site not disclosed | 2,000 | Announced | advanced-television.com |
| DataVolt Oxagon AI campus (NEOM) - full campus planDataVolt | NEOM | 1,500 | Announced | meconstructionnews.com |
| xAI-HUMAIN data centrexAI / HUMAIN / Nvidia | Site not disclosed | 500 | Announced | w.media |
| Hexagon government data centreSDAIA | Riyadh | 480 | Under construction | techafricanews.com |
| KKR-Gulf Data Hub data centreKKR / Gulf Data Hub | Site not disclosed | 300 | Announced | gulfbusiness.com |
| HUMAIN-stc center3 AI data-centre JVHUMAIN / stc center3 | Site not disclosed | 250 | Announced | argaam.com |
| Together AI-HUMAIN data centreTogether AI / HUMAIN | Site not disclosed | 250 | Announced | middleeastainews.com |
| AMD-Cisco-HUMAIN JV next phase (from 2027)HUMAIN / AMD / Cisco | Site not disclosed | 250 | Announced | middleeastainews.com |
| Qualcomm AI200/AI250 racks (HUMAIN)HUMAIN / Qualcomm | Site not disclosed | 200 | Announced | meatechwatch.com |
| Al Moammar Information Systems data-centre expansionAl Moammar Information Systems | Site not disclosed | 192 | Announced | mcit.gov.sa |
| HUMAIN Riyadh data centre (initial target 100 MW)HUMAIN | Riyadh | 100 | Under construction | bloomberg.com |
| HUMAIN Dammam data centre (initial target 100 MW)HUMAIN | Dammam | 100 | Under construction | bloomberg.com |
| DataVolt Oxagon AI campus (NEOM) - first phase with HUMAINDataVolt / HUMAIN | NEOM | 100 | Under construction | w.media |
| Khuzam Digital ValleyNHC Innovation | Riyadh | 65 | Announced | english.aawsat.com |
| AWS-HUMAIN AI ZoneAWS / HUMAIN | Site not disclosed | 50 | Announced | aboutamazon.com |
| HUMAIN AI Cloud (Nvidia Blackwell Ultra)HUMAIN | Site not disclosed | 1.1 | Operational | middleeastainews.com |
| Oracle Cloud Jeddah regionOracle | Jeddah | Undisclosed | Operational | cio.com |
| Google Cloud Dammam region (me-central2)Google Cloud | Dammam | Undisclosed | Operational | googlecloudpresscorner.com |
| Oracle Cloud Riyadh regionOracle | Riyadh | Undisclosed | Operational | oracle.com |
| Groq-Aramco Digital inference cluster (19,000 LPUs)Groq / Aramco Digital | Dammam | Undisclosed | Operational | middleeastainews.com |
| AMD Instinct MI355X cluster (AMD-Cisco-HUMAIN)HUMAIN / AMD / Cisco | Site not disclosed | Undisclosed | Operational | middleeastainews.com |
| AWS Saudi Arabia regionAWS | Site not disclosed | Undisclosed | Under construction | aboutamazon.com |
| Microsoft Saudi Arabia East regionMicrosoft | Eastern Province | Undisclosed | Under construction | meatechwatch.com |
| HUMAIN-AirTrunk campusHUMAIN / AirTrunk | Site not disclosed | Undisclosed | Announced | enterpriseam.com |
| Tencent Cloud Saudi regionTencent Cloud | Site not disclosed | Undisclosed | Announced | gulfbusiness.com |
| BytePlus-Mobily cloud regionMobily / BytePlus | Site not disclosed | Undisclosed | Announced | mcit.gov.sa |
Startup funding rounds
$1,805m in total
| Date | Company | Round | Raised | Sector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 May 2026 | Stitch | Series A | $25m | Fintech (financial-institution OS) | arabnews.com |
| 16 May 2026 | Aumet | Series A | $12m | Health tech | arabnews.com |
| 19 Nov 2025 | Luma AI (US company; HUMAIN-led, not a Saudi startup) | Series C | $900m | AI (video / world models) | advanced-television.com |
| 15 Jul 2025 | Lucidya | Series B | $30m | AI (customer experience) | middleeastainews.com |
| 13 Nov 2024 | Lean Technologies | Series B | $67.5m | Fintech infrastructure (open banking) | wamda.com |
| 30 Jul 2024 | Intelmatix | Series A | $20m | AI (enterprise decision intelligence) | wamda.com |
| 4 Mar 2024 | Salla | Pre-IPO equity round | $130m | E-commerce SaaS | lw.com |
| 18 Dec 2023 | Tamara | Series C | $340m | Fintech (BNPL) | fintech.global |
| 22 Aug 2022 | Tamara | Series B | $100m | Fintech (BNPL) | wamda.com |
| 20 Apr 2022 | Foodics | Series C | $170m | Restaurant tech / fintech | wamda.com |
| 4 Feb 2022 | Mozn | Series A | $10m | AI (NLU, risk and financial-crime) | wamda.com |
Regulation timeline
- 25 April 2016Saudi Vision 2030 announcedarabnews.com
- 30 August 2019Royal decree creates SDAIA with NDMO and NCAI; NIC transferredregulations.ai
- 21 October 2020National Strategy for Data and AI (NSDAI) launchedgulfbusiness.com
- 16 September 2021Personal Data Protection Law issued (Royal Decree M/19); gazetted 24 Sep 2021clydeco.com
- 27 March 2023PDPL amended by Royal Decree M/148insightplus.bakermckenzie.com
- 25 July 2023Cabinet approves ICAIRE (international AI research and ethics centre)kyodonewsprwire.jp
- 7 September 2023PDPL Implementing Regulations and Data Transfer Regulations publishedclydeco.com
- 14 September 2023PDPL in force; 12-month grace period to 14 Sep 2024clydeco.com
- 14 September 2023AI Ethics Principles v2.0 publishedtamimi.com
- 10 January 2024Generative AI Guidelines for government (public version 11 Jan)digitalpolicyalert.org
- 11 September 2024ICAIRE classified as UNESCO Category 2 centrekyodonewsprwire.jp
- 12 September 2024National AI Adoption Framework publisheddigitalpolicyalert.org
- 14 April 2025Draft Global AI Hub Law (data embassies) opened for consultation to 14 May 2025; final status not foundclydeco.com
- June 2025National Data Center Strategy: up to 1.5 GW by 2030trade.gov
- 18 November 2025US-Saudi strategic AI memorandum announcednextgov.com
- 19 November 2025US Commerce approves the equivalent of up to 35,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips each for HUMAIN and G42news.bgov.com
- 22 February 2026Saudi Arabia joins GPAI as first Arab membersharikatmubasher.com
- 10 March 2026Cabinet designates 2026 the Year of Artificial Intelligencemiddleeastainews.com
- 3 April 2026Draft Responsible AI Policy opened for consultation to 3 May 2026 (four risk tiers)digitalpolicyalert.org
Figures are announced commitments as reported at the time, in nominal US dollars, and are not audited spend. Each row links to its source. Where sources disagree, we use the primary source.Data as of 3 October 2026
Questions answered
- How much has been invested in AI and data centers in Saudi Arabia?
- Cicada tracks $48.7bn in announced commitments to AI, cloud and data center projects in Saudi Arabia, across 20 announced commitments. A further $2,419bn in pledges, plans, MoUs and reported talks is listed separately and not counted.
- How much data center capacity is Saudi Arabia building?
- Cicada tracks 26 sites of data center and cloud infrastructure in the Kingdom. Where capacity has been disclosed, it adds up to 6,338 MW, including projects still under construction or only announced. 6 sites are operational.
- How much have Saudi AI and tech startups raised?
- Cicada tracks 11 funding rounds by Saudi AI and technology startups, totalling $1,805m in disclosed funding.