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Saudi Arabia is putting state money behind the least glamorous part of its AI push: the chips and the power lines that keep data centres running.
The National Infrastructure Fund, known as Infra, signed two financing agreements worth up to 2.5 billion Riyal ($667 million) with Humain, the Public Investment Fund's AI company, the two said on Monday. They are the first deals under Infra's AI data centre financing program.
Where the money goes
Up to $293 million will help Humain buy and deploy graphics processing units, the chips that train and run AI models. That covers about 25 megawatts of computing load.
The other $373 million will pay for substations, transmission lines and grid connections for Humain's data centres. That part is designed to support up to one gigawatt of future capacity.
Interest rates and repayment terms were not disclosed.
"AI infrastructure is becoming foundational to the next generation of computing," said Tareq Amin, Humain's chief executive.
Infra's role is to "strengthen project readiness and bankability" and to "unlock investment well beyond Infra's own commitment," said Esmail Alsallom, the fund's chief executive.
From framework to cash
Humain and Infra first announced a framework at Davos in January for up to $1.2 billion of financing covering 250 megawatts. Monday's deals turn more than half of that into signed commitments.
The power deal goes further than the framework did. Building grid links for a gigawatt now is meant to draw in developers, hyperscalers and institutional investors to fill the capacity later.
The bigger picture
Humain is aiming for three gigawatts of AI data centre capacity by 2030. Aramco completed its purchase of a 49% stake on Nov. 1, putting in about $2.6 billion in cash this year, with PIF keeping 51%.
Power is the bottleneck for AI everywhere. In the US, new data centres are waiting years for grid connections. Saudi Arabia is betting that cheap energy and state-backed grid building will let it move faster.
What to watch
Which data centre sites get the first grid links, and whether outside investors take up the gigawatt of capacity the power deal is built for.
