Tech & AI
Aramco Completes 49% Stake in Saudi AI Group HUMAIN With $2.6bn Cash
The oil giant's deal leaves the Public Investment Fund with 51% of the state-backed artificial-intelligence company, which targets 3 gigawatts of data-centre capacity by 2030.
HedgeWeekly Tech & AI Desk ·
Saudi Aramco has completed the purchase of 49% of HUMAIN, the Saudi artificial-intelligence business owned by the kingdom's Public Investment Fund (PIF), the two state-linked groups said on Sunday. PIF keeps the remaining 51%. Aramco bought the stake through a wholly owned subsidiary.
Aramco will put about SAR 9.9 billion, roughly $2.6 billion, of cash into HUMAIN during 2026. It will also transfer AI assets, computing capacity and digital assets, and PIF and Aramco will both contribute AI capabilities and staff. The announcement assigned no separate value to those non-cash items, and no valuation for HUMAIN was disclosed.
HUMAIN launched in May 2025 and is building a full-stack AI business: data centres, cloud and high-performance computing platforms, AI models including ALLaM, an Arabic-language large language model, and AI software for customers. It plans to deploy 3 gigawatts of data-centre capacity by 2030, a target rather than installed capacity. Aramco said it expects revenue growth and attractive margins from the partnership and a way to earn returns on its own AI and digital assets.
Why it matters: the deal ties the Gulf's largest listed energy producer directly to the region's AI build-out, a theme investors have watched as chipmakers and power suppliers chase Gulf demand. The undisclosed valuation and unspecified payment schedule beyond 2026 leave open how much Aramco is paying per unit of capacity. HUMAIN also has a separate agreement with AMD covering up to $10 billion of deployment over five years, and the scale, timing and funding of the 3-gigawatt plan will be the thing to watch, along with any customer contracts outside Saudi Arabia.