RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is aiming to become the world’s largest exporter of artificial intelligence tokens as it accelerates efforts to position itself as a regional and global technology hub, according to a senior executive.
Speaking at the PIF Private Sector Forum, Tareq Amin, CEO of Humain, said the Kingdom has the necessary resources including abundant energy supplies and strong geographic connectivity to establish itself as a global AI powerhouse.
His remarks align with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy, which seeks to transform the Kingdom into a leading regional technology hub by the end of the decade.
Humain “is a company that has an ambition to become a global player in this important space. We are an AI total value chain company. Focussed from Humain core, which is our data centers. These are not small data centers. We are talking about gigawatt capacity,” Amin said.
He emphasized the critical role of energy in artificial intelligence development, adding: “AI is an energy game. We have power, energy affordability and abundance, connectivity, land, and water. We have all that it needs to translate Saudi Arabia to the world’s largest AI token exporter.”
Amin also revealed that Saudi Arabia plans to launch and commercialize its own operating system in the coming months, potentially becoming the third country after the US and China to do so.
“One thing I was deciding, whether to show you this here, but we have a big event coming in LEAP and we will commercialize this. In the last meeting that we had with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, he was referring to operating systems, whether using Windows or Mac,” he said.
“Saudi Arabia will be the first country outside the US and China that will commercialize its own operating system,” Amin added.
In January, Humain agreed to a financing framework of up to $1.2 billion to expand AI and digital infrastructure across the Kingdom. The non-binding agreement outlines financing terms to develop up to 250 megawatts of AI data center capacity to serve Humain’s local, regional, and global customers.
In December, the company partnered with Saudi Telecom Co. to form a joint venture focused on developing and operating AI-driven data centers in Saudi Arabia. According to a Tadawul filing, Humain will hold a 51 percent stake in the venture, while stc will own the remaining 49 percent.
