AMD, Cisco, and HUMAIN, a PIF-backed provider of full-stack AI solutions, have announced plans for a joint venture designed to build out large-scale AI infrastructure in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The initiative aims to achieve up to 1 GW of AI capacity by 2030, targeting regional and global customers seeking cost-efficient, high-performance AI training and inference platforms.
Operations for the joint venture are expected to begin in 2026, with an initial phase delivering 100 MW of AI infrastructure. This first phase will combine HUMAIN’s modern data center capacity with AMD Instinct MI450 Series GPUs and Cisco’s critical infrastructure portfolio. Over time, the partners intend to scale to multiple gigawatts as part of HUMAIN’s broader AI and digital infrastructure strategy.
Strategic Context and Partnership Structure
The announcement builds on a multi-year strategic collaboration that AMD and Cisco previously disclosed with HUMAIN. That earlier initiative focused on creating an open, scalable, and cost-efficient AI infrastructure footprint in Saudi Arabia. The joint venture formalizes and extends that framework, positioning AMD and Cisco as exclusive technology partners across compute, networking, and associated infrastructure solutions.
All three companies will be founding investors in the joint venture. HUMAIN contributes advanced data center facilities in the kingdom, while AMD and Cisco bring GPU-accelerated compute, high-performance networking, and supporting infrastructure. The design intent is to optimize power efficiency and reduce capital intensity relative to traditional AI buildouts, which is a central concern for customers planning multi-megawatt deployments.
Technical Foundation: Compute and Infrastructure
The platform is expected to center on AMD Instinct MI450 Series GPUs for AI workloads. These accelerators will be deployed within HUMAIN’s modern, high-density data center environments, which are being structured to support large-scale training clusters and high-throughput inference.
Cisco will provide secure, scalable critical infrastructure, including high-speed networking, data center switching, and related systems required to sustain up to gigawatt-scale AI capacity. The combination is intended to support customers who need the following:
- High-performance GPU clusters for large language models and generative AI
- Low-latency fabric for distributed training at scale
- Data center designs optimized for power, cooling, and TCO
By tightly aligning compute and network architectures in a greenfield environment, the joint venture aims to deliver predictable performance characteristics and more efficient scaling as organizations move from pilot deployments into production AI.
Enabling Saudi Arabia’s AI-Driven Economy
The initiative directly supports Saudi Arabia’s objective of becoming a leading provider of AI solutions for both regional and international clients. The joint venture is part of a broader effort to build a digitally advanced, AI-powered economy anchored by local infrastructure, talent, and innovation.
Leadership from AMD, Cisco, and HUMAIN has framed this project as a foundational step in that direction. AMD has also outlined plans to establish a Center of Excellence in Saudi Arabia to accelerate local AI innovation and integration across its platforms. Cisco, for its part, has positioned its role as delivering a secure, scalable infrastructure that underpins HUMAIN’s planned up to 1 GW buildout.
Market Readiness and Demand Signal
Recent data highlights the urgency of this buildout. Cisco’s latest AI Readiness Index shows that while 91% of organizations in Saudi Arabia plan to deploy AI agents, only 29% report having robust GPU capacity. This gap underscores the current constraints around scalable AI infrastructure and the difficulty of moving from experimentation to production at scale.
The joint venture is explicitly targeting this gap. By delivering large-scale, high-performance, and cost-efficient AI infrastructure within the Kingdom, AMD, Cisco, and HUMAIN aim to:
- Provide the compute density required for AI at scale.
- Reduce barriers to entry for enterprises and public-sector entities that need advanced AI capabilities.
- Strengthen the foundations of Saudi Arabia’s digital economy by localizing compute, innovation, and skills development.
Outlook for Technical Buyers
For technical sales teams and AI-focused professionals, this joint venture represents an emerging large-scale platform opportunity in the Middle East. Key attributes likely to resonate with customers include:
- A roadmap from 100 MW in 2026 to up to 1 GW by 2030, with ambition for multi-gigawatt expansion.
- A vertically aligned stack spanning data center, GPU compute, and networking infrastructure.
- A focus on open, scalable, and cost-efficient AI platforms suitable for both regional and global workloads.
As the joint venture comes online, it is poised to become a significant destination for organizations seeking to deploy AI infrastructure in a region that is investing heavily in AI-driven economic growth.
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