Saudi Aramco has completed a strategic acquisition deal through which it obtained a 49% stake in the Saudi company "HUMAIN", which specializes in artificial intelligence technologies, via one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries. Under this agreement, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) retains the majority stake of 51%, placing the company at the heart of technical cooperation between the largest energy giant and the largest sovereign wealth fund in the region.
Investment and Infrastructure Details
The deal includes a cash contribution from Aramco of approximately $2.6 billion (equivalent to 9.9 billion Saudi Riyals) to be injected during the year 2026. In addition to the cash liquidity, Aramco will contribute a range of artificial intelligence, computing, and digital assets, while both parties are committed to providing technical capabilities and human talents to support HUMAIN's ambitious expansion plans.
HUMAIN was established in May 2025 by the Public Investment Fund, and it works on developing a comprehensive artificial intelligence infrastructure including data centers, high-performance computing platforms, cloud services, and advanced AI models. Among its most prominent projects is the "ALLaM" model, which is considered one of the most powerful multimodal large language models (LLM) in the Arabic language in the world.
Strategic and Expansion Objectives
Through this support, HUMAIN seeks to develop its AI data center capabilities to reach 3 gigawatts by the year 2030, in order to meet the growing local and regional demand. For Aramco, this investment represents an opportunity to integrate HUMAIN's technologies into its complex industrial operations, enhancing production efficiency and the supply chain through advanced AI applications.
Amin Nasser, President and CEO of Saudi Aramco, pointed out that since 2023, the company has achieved added value from technologies amounting to $11.3 billion, a large part of which came from artificial intelligence solutions. He emphasized that this partnership will position Aramco in a global leadership role in the field of technology, while contributing to the localization of the artificial intelligence industry in the Kingdom.
What practically changes in the technical landscape?
This step represents a transition from merely consuming AI technologies to building the "full stack" locally. Instead of total reliance on global cloud providers, Saudi Arabia aims through HUMAIN to possess the capability to process data, develop models, and apply industrial solutions within its borders and with national assets.
- Computing localization: Reaching 3 gigawatts of data center capacity positions the Kingdom as a regional hub for big data processing.
- Linguistic sovereignty: Developing the ALLaM model ensures the presence of AI tools that understand the Arabic cultural and linguistic context with high accuracy.
- Industrial transformation: Integrating artificial intelligence into the oil and gas sector is not just a digital improvement, but a means to raise profit margins and reduce emissions through smart automation.
On his part, Yazeed Al-Humied, Deputy Governor and Head of MENA Investments at the Public Investment Fund, explained that integrating investment portfolios in artificial intelligence under HUMAIN's umbrella will create strong synergy that supports talent growth and intellectual property development, enhancing the role of artificial intelligence as a key enabler for various economic sectors.