US tech firms AMD and Cisco, along with Saudi AI company Humain, said on Monday that new artificial intelligence computing infrastructure is up and running in Saudi Arabia.
The new computing power will serve Humain customers in the kingdom and beyond, Cisco said in a news release. Humain chief executive Tareq Amin said the partnership with AMD and Cisco is a vote of confidence in Humain.
“Putting this infrastructure into production demonstrates Humain's ability to build, operate and deliver advanced AI infrastructure at scale,” he said.
Humain is backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF). The AI network is making use of AMD's Instinct MI355X graphics processing units (GPUs) and EPYC central processing units (CPUs).
AMD chief executive Lisa Su said that bringing AMD Instinct systems online in Saudi Arabia was an “important milestone”.
Humain will also utilise Cisco's Silicon One-based AI networking technology and N9000 Series platform.
The venture between Humain, AMD and Cisco “remains on track” to roll out up to 1GW of AI infrastructure in Saudi Arabia by 2030, the new release states.
All three companies said current and future plans were a way to bolster Saudi Arabia's AI sovereignty – a country's ability to operate its digital infrastructure with less reliance on other nations.
“The platform will give customers greater control over where their data resides, how their models are customised, and how their AI systems are deployed and governed,” the news release states.
Amazon and Leap
Monday's announcement is the first of many expected during Leap, one of the biggest annual technology exhibitions taking place in Saudi Arabia.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) was also quick to capitalise on the week-long Leap news cycle by pointing out that its AWS Cloud Infrastructure Region, first announced in 2024, is on track to launch by the end of this year.
The new AWS Region in Saudi Arabia will allow businesses, organisations and start-ups to serve their customers by using Amazon's data centres within the kingdom to host various applications or services.
The project is also a partnership in Humain's portfolio.
AWS chief executive Matt Garman said the project with Humain would “deliver the full-stack cloud and AI infrastructure to help power new industries, create jobs, and accelerate the goals” of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030.
