Giant Steps in AI: NVIDIA and Saudi Arabia's HUMAIN Partner
It's as if the tech world is exhaling in unison fresh air. As some of that recent trade anxiety dissipates and changes are to be expected regarding AI regulations, a lot of the worry hanging over the likes of NVIDIA seems to be disappearing. And as if that departing cloud, we're witnessing an enormous sign of what could possibly be an explosive growth period thanks to a revolutionary partnership between HUMAIN and NVIDIA.
Who exactly is HUMAIN, you wonder? They're the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF)'s AI-focused subsidiary, and they just teamed up with NVIDIA on a gigantic goal: to "make Saudi Arabia a global leader in AI, GPU cloud computing and digital transformation." That's lofty language, and they're backing it with reality.
Building AI Superpower: What's in the Deal?
So how does this partnership really work? HUMAIN will construct what they've called "AI factories" themselves in Saudi Arabia. We're talking about massive scale here – a projected capacity of up to 500 megawatts. To power all of this, they plan on using "several hundred thousand of NVIDIA's latest GPUs over the next five years."
The first phase itself is staggering: HUMAIN will be utilizing NVIDIA's GB300 GPUs to the tune of 18,000, and these will be interconnected using NVIDIA's InfiniBand networking, which is high-speed. It is not just about raw processing power; HUMAIN will also have access to NVIDIA's Omniverse platform. All this is focused on physical AI and robotics, which will go a long way towards propelling Saudi Arabia into the next stage of industrial advancement, widely known as Industry 4.0.
But it's not just about hardware. NVIDIA is also stepping in to train Saudi nationals, giving them practical experience in cutting-edge AI, simulation, robotics, and digital twin technologies. This is a big step towards building a qualified local talent pool in these critical areas.
AMD Also in the Picture
Incidentally, HUMAIN is not counting on any single horse. They have also signed an agreement with AMD to create a $10 billion fund. Why? To "deploy 500 megawatts of AI compute capacity over the next five years" – quite the same magnitude as the NVIDIA initiative.
With this stand-alone agreement, HUMAIN will be responsible for the whole works, from building hyperscale data centers and green energy infrastructure to global fiber interconnects. AMD, in turn, will donate their full range of AI computing technology as well as their ROCm open software platform. They're even building to have their first "multi-exaflop capacity" data center in Saudi Arabia up and running by early 2026.
A Shifting Global Landscape
These massive AI infrastructure deals are happening as the overall economic environment seems to be shifting. You might have seen the news at the weekend of the easing of trade tensions. Those who were not aware, the US and China seem to have agreed to lower tariffs on each other's goods significantly at the weekend. While this is a short-term 90-day deal while they work towards a longer-term resolution, it's a positive sign.
NVIDIA, you might remember, was in a bind during the US-China trade wars, especially when it came to licensing its H20 GPU that's specifically meant for the Chinese market. They're rumored to be creating a customized one to avoid these regulations. Additionally, expected changes to AI spread legislation can also be advantageous for NVIDIA, perhaps shifting the focus away from broad bans and more to specific problems, like Huawei's Ascend AI accelerators, which have become a major threat to NVIDIA GPUs in China.
It's a thrilling period, and this action on the part of NVIDIA and HUMAIN represents a strong belief in the potential for AI in the future and an attempt to develop the platform that will power it.
