{"id":3549,"date":"2025-05-15T11:30:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T08:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/?p=3549"},"modified":"2025-05-15T09:33:42","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T06:33:42","slug":"weekly-news-blast-15th-may-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/weekly-news-blast-15th-may-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly News Blast – 15th May 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Welcome to the GDCA Weekly News Blast! Check out the latest industry news from the GCC region below. Have any Middle East data centres news you\u2019d like to share? Email yours to imogen@gulfdca.com<\/a> with NEWS<\/strong> in the subject line.<\/div>\n
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Industry News<\/strong><\/div>\n

KSA<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Saudi Arabia\u2019s AI push takes shape with the launch of Humain<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Backed by the Kingdom\u2019s $940bn Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia has launched a new AI company called Humain, marking a major milestone in its Vision 2030 economic diversification strategy. Positioned to be Riyadh\u2019s flagship vehicle for driving the Kingdom\u2019s AI ambitions, Humain represents Saudi Arabia\u2019s major next step into the global AI race – its answer to Silicon Valley\u2019s dominance. The company aims to shape the international AI conversation while ensuring the Kingdom and the broader GCC have a permanent seat at the table. With a mission to build local capabilities, reduce reliance on imported technologies, and foster innovation across sectors like healthcare, education, logistics, and defence, Humain plans to develop a suite of AI technologies, including large-scale data centres. This move is part of a broader national push: the Kingdom is laying down infrastructure, channelling capital, and crafting regulatory frameworks to nurture a globally competitive AI sector. PIF, Humain\u2019s backer, has already made significant inroads, notably through the launch of Alat, which has committed $100bn by 2030 to AI hardware and tech infrastructure. In parallel, US chipmaker Groq recently partnered with Aramco Digital to build the world\u2019s largest inference data centre in Saudi Arabia. Despite recent reductions in overseas spending, AI remains a strategic priority, with Sheikh Mohammed affirming in January that the Kingdom will invest $600bn in the US over the next four years\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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AWS and Humain announce a $5bn+ partnership to accelerate AI adoption in the Kingdom and globally<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

AWS and Humain, Saudi Arabia\u2019s recently launched AI company, have announced plans to invest over $5 billion to build a first-of-its-kind AI Zone in the Kingdom. This initiative will bring AWS\u2019s advanced server and network infrastructure – as well as its suite of AI and machine learning services, including Amazon SageMaker, Amazon Bedrock, and Amazon Q – to Saudi Arabia. As part of the strategic partnership, Humain will leverage AWS technologies to develop AI solutions for its end customers and collaborate on the creation of a unified AI agent marketplace. This announcement follows the recent unveiling of a new AWS cloud region in the Kingdom, representing an additional investment of $5.3 billion.\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Saudi Arabia sees a flurry of deals during President Trump\u2019s visit <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This week, US President Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia, and, along with the major announcement of the launch of Humain, a flurry of other investment deals was announced, predominantly in AI and data centre infrastructure and investment:<\/p>\n