RIYADH: Powered by its sovereign wealth fund of nearly $1 trillion, Saudi Arabia is backing its new AI firm Humain, entering a highly competitive sector some fear is a bubble ready to burst.

The company, launched in May, is bankrolled by Saudi’s powerful Public Investment Fund, which has played a key role in financing the kingdom’s so-called gigaprojects — major developments aimed at boosting and diversifying its oil-reliant economy.

Humain this week signed a number of deals during the Future Investment Initiative conference (FII) in Riyadh, where its CEO doubled down on the stated goal of Saudi Arabia becoming the third-largest provider of AI infrastructure, behind the United States and China.

But Riyadh’s ambitions to become a global AI hub face fierce competition from the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, which have invested in AI for years, as well as challenges over acquiring advanced US technology, including powerful chips.

“Our ambition is really, really massive,” Humain’s CEO Tareq Amin told delegates at the FII conference.

Humain has vowed to offer a wide range of AI services, products and tools, along with a powerful Arabic large language model.

In August, the company unveiled its debut Arabic chatbot that boasted of being able to comprehend the language’s myriad dialects while also being mindful of Islamic values.

On Tuesday, state-backed oil giant Saudi Aramco announced plans to acquire a “significant minority stake” in Humain to scale up operations and “accelerate its growth in the AI sector”, according to a joint press release.

Aramco’s President and CEO Amin Nasser gushed over the potential of AI, saying the technology and digitalisation had the ability to double an oil well’s productivity.

Humain also signed a $3 billion deal with private equity giant BlackStone’s AirTrunk to build data centres in Saudi Arabia and struck an agreement with US chipmaker Qualcomm.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2025