Humain and Blackstone Partner on Saudi AI Data Centres

The increasing demand for computing power, fuelled by the rapid expansion of AI models, has created a substantial need for data centre capacity across the globe. In this landscape, Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds are becoming key sources of capital for the sector.

Private equity firm Blackstone is set to partner with Humain, Saudi Arabia’s state-supported AI company. The deal, valued at US$3bn, will focus on constructing data centres throughout the kingdom.

AirTrunk, the data centre operator owned by Blackstone and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, will collaborate with Humain to finance, develop and operate these critical facilities, which are designed to house the complex computer systems and storage equipment necessary for running AI models.

Expanding investment and future partnerships

This initial investment could be just the start of a much larger initiative. Tareq Amin, CEO of Humain, indicated in an interview that the effort is expected to grow.

He also suggested that it may eventually involve other major firms such as BlackRock, KKR and DigitalBridge Group, pointing towards a broader collaboration to build out the region's digital infrastructure.

Blackstone has methodically built a data centre empire estimated to be worth around US$25bn. The firm's commitment to the sector was highlighted by its acquisition of AirTrunk for approximately US$16bn last year.

AirTrunk operates facilities across Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Malaysia, providing the necessary infrastructure and industrial-scale cooling systems to maintain thousands of servers.

However, Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone, has cautioned that electricity to power these centres could be in “short supply,” a critical consideration for such energy-intensive operations.

Building the infrastructure for AI ambitions

Humain was established only five months ago in May by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

Further integrating the nation's key entities, PIF and the state oil company Aramco have announced a non-binding term sheet for Aramco to acquire a “significant minority stake” in Humain.

This move aligns the country's technology and energy giants in its push towards AI leadership.

With its first data centres already under construction in Saudi Arabia, Humain expects them to be operational early next year.

Humain is actively procuring essential semiconductors from US chipmakers, including the Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) that are fundamental for training and operating AI models.

Details regarding the location of the data centre campus, its capacity and the specific chips to be used have not yet been disclosed.

Saudi Arabia's global AI ranking aspirations

The strategic partnerships for Humain are already taking shape. Humain has secured Qualcomm, the mobile chip company and Cisco Systems, the networking equipment manufacturer, as partners.

Additionally, Humain is in early discussions with Elon Musk’s xAI regarding a potential data centre deal in Saudi Arabia, signalling its intent to work with leading innovators. The firm's investment arm, Humain Ventures, a US$10bn fund launched this summer, has also begun to deploy capital.

Speaking at a conference, Tareq outlined a clear goal for the nation to become “the third-largest AI infrastructure provider, behind the US and China.” He explained that the partnership marks “a key moment in creating scalable, secure, and sustainable data centre capacity to support the rapid growth of AI and cloud computing.”

By 2030, Tareq plans to add 1.9GW of data centre capacity, a substantial increase that reflects the scale of Saudi Arabia's ambitions in the global technology race.