AMD, Cisco, PIF-Backed Humain Plan to Build 1GW Datacenters in Saudi Arabia-钛媒体官方网站

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Cisco Systems, and Saudi Arabia–based artificial intelligence company Humain are forming a joint venture to develop up to one gigawatt (GW) of AI data center capacity by 2030 in the Kingdom. The initial 100-megawatt (MW) phase has already been fully contracted by generative video startup Luma AI, underscoring strong early demand for the project.

A Joint Venture Anchored by AI Compute and Networking

Expected to begin operations in 2026, the yet-to-be-named venture will pair Humain’s next-generation data center platforms with AMD Instinct MI450 Series GPUs and Cisco’s networking and critical infrastructure solutions. AMD and Cisco will be minority shareholders and exclusive technology partners, sharing in the venture’s profits and losses, while Humain—backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF)—will take the lead role.

The partners aim to deliver modern, power-efficient facilities designed to reduce capital expenditures and accelerate AI deployment at scale. Leadership across the three companies emphasized shared responsibility for execution and customer outcomes.

First Phase: 100 MW, Renewable-Powered Capacity

The initial 100 MW buildout, fully subscribed by Luma AI, is planned for construction in 2026. According to Humain, this first phase will be powered entirely by renewable energy, aligning with the Kingdom’s broader sustainability ambitions. Construction has not yet begun, with site development and equipment readiness expected to ramp in tandem with permitting and supply timelines.

Global Reach Across High-Growth AI Markets

The venture will target customers across Asia, Europe, India, the Middle East, and Africa—collectively representing roughly 4.5 billion people. Cisco plans to leverage its global salesforce and long-standing incentive structures to help accelerate capacity uptake as facilities come online.

Strategic Context: Saudi Arabia’s AI and Semiconductor Push

The announcement comes amid Saudi Arabia’s expanding investments in AI infrastructure and semiconductors. National leaders have emphasized the importance of ensuring access to high-performance compute and have outlined near-term plans to deploy substantial capital into chip-related initiatives to sustain economic growth and digital transformation.

Humain, chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and established by the Public Investment Fund, is a core pillar of the Kingdom’s AI ambitions. The company has been positioning itself as a global-scale provider of AI compute, supported by abundant energy resources and an expanding technology ecosystem. In line with this strategy, Saudi Aramco has signed a nonbinding term sheet to acquire a significant minority stake in Humain, signaling broader domestic industrial support.

Supply, Partnerships, and Scale Targets

Humain has previously indicated it is working through export permit processes for advanced AI chips from multiple U.S. vendors, including Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, and startup Groq. The company has also been linked with potential multi-gigawatt data center projects involving prominent technology firms as it assembles a diversified pipeline of customers and partners.

By 2030, Humain aims to deploy as many as 400,000 AI chips, with a roadmap to build approximately 6.6 GW of computing capacity by 2034. That ambition would position its footprint alongside some of the world’s largest announced AI compute initiatives. A central element of Humain’s value proposition is access to competitively priced, reliable power to operate energy-intensive AI workloads at scale.

What This Means for AI Infrastructure

• Scale and Speed: A fully contracted first phase indicates robust demand for large-scale AI compute, particularly for generative media and other high-throughput applications.
• Technology Stack: Pairing AMD’s MI450 GPUs with Cisco’s networking under a unified operating model aims to streamline performance, reliability, and time-to-value for customers.
• Sustainability: A renewable-powered first phase positions the venture to meet increasingly stringent ESG requirements from global enterprises and developers.
• Regional Hub: Saudi Arabia’s location and energy resources support a strategy to serve customers across multiple continents from a central AI infrastructure hub.

Outlook

As permitting, construction, and chip supply chains converge, the AMD–Cisco–Humain venture is set to become a significant contributor to global AI capacity. With the first 100 MW already allocated and a long-term roadmap targeting multiple gigawatts, the partnership underscores a shift toward geographically diversified, energy-aware AI infrastructure—designed to support the next wave of generative AI, enterprise AI, and scientific computing workloads.