Infra and HUMAIN Sign SAR 2.5bn to Finance GPUs and AI Power
· Cortex Solutions
Saudi Arabia's National Infrastructure Fund and HUMAIN signed two deals worth up to SAR 2.5bn for GPUs and power grids for AI data centers. What it means for businesses.
Saudi Arabia's National Infrastructure Fund (Infra) and HUMAIN, a Public Investment Fund company, announced two financing agreements worth up to SAR 2.5 billion (about $667 million) to expand artificial intelligence computing capacity and the power infrastructure that data centers in the Kingdom need. According to TechAfrica News and tbreak, both published on November 9, 2026, the agreements were signed in Riyadh on November 8, while Arab News and Gulf Daily News published the story on November 9.
The two agreements
According to published coverage, the deal has two facilities:
- A first facility of up to SAR 1.1 billion (about $293 million) for the purchase and supply of GPUs that run AI models, representing an IT load of approximately 25 MW, according to Arab News.
- A second facility of up to SAR 1.4 billion (about $373 million) for power infrastructure, including substations, transmission infrastructure and grid connections for HUMAIN's data centers in the Kingdom.
Arab News and Gulf Daily News report that the power infrastructure is designed to accommodate future data center expansion of up to 1 GW of IT load, serving developers, large computing operators and institutional investors.
These are the first transactions announced under Infra's AI Data Center Financing Program. Infra operates under the National Development Fund.
Who attended the signing?
According to Gulf Daily News and TechAfrica News, the signing took place in the presence of H.E. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of the Public Investment Fund; H.E. Faisal Alibrahim, Minister of Economy and Planning and Chairman of Infra's Board of Directors; and H.E. Abdulaziz Alarifi, Governor of the National Development Fund.
What the two sides said
Arab News and Gulf Daily News quote HUMAIN CEO Tareq Amin as saying that AI infrastructure is becoming foundational to the next generation of computing, and that these facilities with Infra will help accelerate the deployment of advanced computing capacity and the power infrastructure required to support it.
Infra CEO Eng. Esmail Alsallom said, according to the same sources: "Through these agreements, we aim to unlock investment well beyond Infra's own commitment." He added that supporting HUMAIN's computing deployment alongside power infrastructure helps prepare a broader pipeline of data center projects for investment.
Building on the Davos framework
The agreements build on a financing framework the two parties announced at Davos in January 2026, with non-binding financing terms of up to SAR 4.5 billion ($1.2 billion). Arab News and tbreak add that the framework covered the development of up to 250 MW of AI data center capacity.
Arab News and tbreak also note that Saudi Aramco acquired a 49% stake in HUMAIN through a wholly owned subsidiary, in a transaction completed on November 1, with the Public Investment Fund retaining 51%. Both say HUMAIN targets 3 GW of AI data center capacity by 2030.
On the other hand, tbreak points out that the disclosed details do not yet make clear whether the facilities are loans, what their terms are, or which sites they will fund.
Why power matters as much as chips
Notably, the larger part of the deal (SAR 1.4 billion) goes to electricity, not processors. AI data centers consume enormous amounts of power, and processors are worthless without substations and lines that feed them reliably. This fits a global trend in which AI companies race to secure power as much as they race to secure chips.
What this means for Saudi businesses
- Closer compute: more local data center capacity should mean more options in the future for running AI applications inside the Kingdom, which matters to organizations that want to keep their data local.
- AI becomes infrastructure: when infrastructure funds finance AI the way they finance roads and power, it signals that AI will become a basic business utility, not a side experiment.
- Readiness starts at home: benefiting from this capacity does not require your own data center. It requires organized data and clear digital processes: sales, invoices, inventory and customer communication in unified systems.
- Start small: pick one repetitive process, such as answering customer inquiries or preparing reports, and try automating it with AI before scaling up.
At Cortex, we help Saudi companies prepare their systems and data to benefit from AI in practice. Learn about our AI business automation service: https://cortex.sa/services/ai-automation
Sources: Arab News (November 9, 2026), Gulf Daily News via TradeArabia (November 9, 2026), TechAfrica News (November 9, 2026), tbreak (November 9, 2026), Jawlah (November 9, 2026).