Humane Emerges as AI Powerhouse in Just Six Months... Could It Revitalize NEOM City? [Business & Issue]

Founded by Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund
Aiming to Become the World’s Third-Largest AI Hub... Investment Floods In
Securing Large Quantities of Advanced US AI Semiconductors Is Key

Humane Homepage

Humane, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup established under the leadership of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, has emerged as a new powerhouse in the AI sector just six months after its founding. With partnerships forming with major IT companies such as Nvidia and Qualcomm, as well as large investment firms like Blackstone, expectations are high that Humane will dominate the AI market in the Middle East. The Saudi government's strong commitment to financial support and the region’s easier access to energy compared to other areas are cited as its key strengths. However, experts point out that as U.S. regulatory barriers rise, Humane’s mid- to long-term challenge will be how stably it can secure advanced AI semiconductors.

Saudi Humane Signs $3 Billion Investment Deal with Blackstone... Poised to Become a Data Center Powerhouse

On October 28 (local time), Humane signed a data center investment agreement worth $3 billion (approximately 4.3 trillion won) with Blackstone, the world’s largest asset management firm. The investment will be used to build large-scale data centers across Saudi Arabia. The plan is to establish data centers with a total capacity of 6 gigawatts (GW) nationwide by 2034. In addition to Blackstone, Humane is reportedly in investment talks with other major asset managers such as BlackRock, KKR, and DigitalBridge.

Since its founding in May, the AI startup Humane has rapidly grown by announcing a string of partnership agreements with leading IT companies. It has secured a supply of 18,000 Blackwell GPU semiconductors from Nvidia by next year and entered into a joint AI infrastructure investment agreement worth $10 billion with AMD. Humane is also planning to establish an AI Zone with Amazon, valued at $5 billion.

Humane is particularly focused on developing large language models (LLMs) based on Arabic and building next-generation data centers. While LLM development has so far been centered in the United States and specialized in English, Arabic has lagged due to a relative lack of data. As a homegrown Middle Eastern AI startup, Humane is expected to become a frontrunner in Arabic LLM development ahead of American companies.

A Startup Founded by Bin Salman in May... Aims to Become the World’s Third-Largest AI Hub

Humane Homepage

Humane is a company that has received significant government backing since its inception, with Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally serving as chairman of the board. On May 12, Crown Prince Bin Salman officially announced the founding of Humane at the Saudi-US Investment Forum. The goal is to foster the AI industry centered on Humane and make Saudi Arabia the world’s third-largest AI hub after the United States and China.

The forum brought together American business leaders including Donald Trump, President of the United States, Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, and Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla. As a result, Humane was able to immediately form partnerships with major corporations upon its launch.

Earlier this year, Crown Prince Bin Salman included AI industry development as part of the national “Vision 2030” project and accelerated the founding of Humane with plans to nurture AI as the next-generation oil industry. Aiming to attract AI talent from the United States and around the world, he established Humane Ventures, a venture fund under Humane worth $10 billion (about 14.5 trillion won), and invested in dozens of AI startups.

Thanks to this support, Humane was able to begin developing its own AI operating system (OS) immediately after its launch. The OS, named “Humane One,” was introduced for the first time at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the end of last month. Unlike existing operating systems such as Windows or iOS, where users manually launch applications, Humane One is designed so that AI agents automatically handle tasks via voice or text commands. If successfully commercialized, it could significantly change how office PCs are used.

Tarek Amin, CEO of Humane, emphasized at the Humane One launch event, “I am confident that AI-centric user experiences will ultimately become the standard of the future,” adding, “An era is coming where AI agents will be directly embedded within integrated platforms and will interact with companies’ work processes in real time.”

New Momentum Expected for Stalled NEOM City Project... U.S. Advanced Semiconductor Supply Remains an Issue

Construction site view of NEOM City. NEOM official website

There is growing anticipation that the AI industry development centered on Humane will inject new momentum into NEOM City, a core Vision 2030 project that has stagnated. Saudi Arabia’s relative freedom from environmental regulations and energy supply issues is seen as an advantage for expanding AI data centers.

Amin Nasser, CEO of Saudi state oil company Aramco, said in an interview with Arab News, “Humane has all the conditions to become a future AI leader. In Saudi Arabia, there is land available anywhere to build data centers, and whether it’s renewable energy, natural gas, or oil, we can procure any energy source at the lowest cost,” he emphasized.

However, there are warnings that Humane could face growth limitations if it fails to reduce its reliance on advanced U.S. AI semiconductors. Baghdad Gerras, a partner at Singaporean venture capital firm Antler in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), told CNBC, “Humane is entirely dependent on U.S. companies for advanced AI semiconductors, and more than 50% of its engineering workforce is based overseas, including the U.S. Depending on diplomatic relations with the U.S., it could become increasingly difficult to secure semiconductors and talent,” he pointed out.

The New York Times (NYT) reports that the Saudi government has been negotiating with the U.S. for several months over the supply of advanced AI semiconductors. The core issue is preventing technology leaks to China. This matter is also expected to be discussed at the upcoming summit between Crown Prince Bin Salman and President Trump scheduled for November 18. Humane has previously stated that it will not use Huawei semiconductors in any of its processes going forward.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.