In an astonishing merging of geopolitics and techno-aspiration, Saudi Arabia is making a remarkable move into the world of global artificial intelligence (AI) by obtaining access to some of the most sophisticated U.S. semiconductors. The United States Commerce Department has approved exports of high-end Nvidia Blackwell chips, which are expected to be up to 35,000 units, to Humain, an AI firm backed by the Saudi state, which is a watershed moment for cooperation between Washington and Riyadh.
Humain, launched by the Saudi Public Investment Fund earlier this year, has rapidly become the nucleus of the kingdom’s AI ambitions. The strategic rationale is twofold. On one hand, Saudi Arabia is clearly seeking to diversify away from its reliance on oil under its Vision 2030 blueprint and sees AI as a lever to reshape its economy. On the other, the U.S. views the deal as a means of keeping cutting-edge AI infrastructure anchored in friendly capitals, especially at a time when technology rivalry with China looms large.
In Washington, the decision to permit the export of these powerful chips is contingent on rigorous security and reporting safeguards. This highlights the delicate balance in U.S. export policy, which supports the expansion of AI infrastructure overseas while simultaneously mitigating potential strategic risks. The chips being exported are among Nvidia’s most capable, designed specifically for high-performance AI workloads.
For Humain, the chip approval is more than just a technical milestone. It paves the way for a massive data center project in Saudi Arabia, one that is already drawing the involvement of prominent U.S. technology companies. Elon Musk’s xAI has announced a partnership with Humain to build a 500-megawatt data center in the kingdom, xAI’s largest outside the United States, with plans to deploy the Grok chatbot across Saudi Arabia. In parallel, Humain has inked deals with AMD and Cisco to jointly develop a gigawatt-scale AI infrastructure by 2030.
These deals reflect a broader strategic vision. Saudi Arabia is leveraging its abundant energy resources and expansive landmass, ideal for data center construction, to become a major AI hub, while American firms supply both the capital and the technology. It offers American stakeholders, through the size of the kingdom, the opportunity to expand AI infrastructure rapidly in partnership with the funding capacity of the Public Investment Fund.
But the tie has its detractors, too. Some analysts warn that while the exports of the amphibian row keep the fuel coming for Saudi Arabia’s evolving ecosystem of AI, they have their own security implications: giving access to the most advanced technology raises questions of control, governance, and eventual influence. Geopolitical dynamics are also potentially in play. By developing an AI relationship with Washington, Riyadh might be showing a preference for the U.S. over the other heavyweight nations in the global tech race.
Yet from Riyadh’s perspective, the gamble seems calculated. Access to U.S. semiconductors enables Humain to scale state-of-the-art compute infrastructure rapidly. That capability, in turn, supports Saudi Arabia’s ambition not only to train sophisticated AI models but also to export them. Humain is aiming to become a global player in Arabic-language large language models, and its data centers could serve clients well beyond the Middle East.
For the U.S., the policy shift also carries long-term strategic value. By tying Gulf countries more tightly into its AI supply chains, Washington may be seeking to secure both geopolitical influence and technological loyalty. At a moment when global competition for AI dominance is intensifying, these bilateral deals could mark one of the most tangible realignments of AI supply architecture yet.
The emerging U.S.–Saudi tech axis around AI chips and data centers is not just a commercial story. It is a high-stakes geopolitical maneuver, driven by mutual interests: Saudi Arabia’s drive to modernize and diversify and America’s desire to embed its technology leadership in strategically important partners. As AI continues to reshape global power dynamics, these newly laid infrastructure foundations in Riyadh may prove to be more consequential than they appear today.
