Saudi Arabia's state-backed AI company Humain expanded its partnership with Nvidia to deploy 84 megawatts of computing capacity, adding approximately 27,000 GPUs. The expansion begins with 14MW of Blackwell HGX B300 systems in Q4 2026 and extends to 70MW of Vera Rubin infrastructure in mid-2027, with 50MW dedicated to an unnamed US client. Concurrently, Netherlands-based Nebius became the anchor tenant at Neom's Oxagon giga campus by securing a 50MW capacity agreement with Humain and DataVolt.
HUMAIN-NVIDIA 84MW infrastructure expansion
- ▪The 84MW expansion agreement between Humain and Nvidia was announced at Nvidia's GTC conference in Berlin, Germany on October 22, 2026.
- ▪The 84MW plan expands on a May 2025 partnership unveiled during US President Donald Trump's visit to Riyadh that aimed to supply Humain with hundreds of thousands of AI chips over five years.
- ▪Saudi Arabia's AI firm Humain expanded its partnership with US chipmaker Nvidia to deploy up to 84 megawatts of artificial intelligence computing capacity involving approximately 27,000 graphics processing units.
Blackwell GPU deployment timeline
- ▪The 14-megawatt Nvidia Blackwell system deployment will connect using Nvidia Quantum-X800 InfiniBand networking to support Humain Cloud customers, including government entities, enterprises, and AI developers.
- ▪The first phase of the Humain-Nvidia expansion comprises 14 megawatts of Nvidia Blackwell HGX B300 systems, equivalent to about 6,000 GPUs, with deployment starting in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Vera Rubin infrastructure rollout
- ▪Humain plans to deploy 70 megawatts of Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin infrastructure, representing about 21,000 GPUs running on the Nvidia DSX AI Factory Platform, starting in mid-2027.
- ▪Of the 70-megawatt Vera Rubin capacity, Humain targeted 50 megawatts for an unidentified US client starting in June 2027, with the remaining 20 megawatts supporting Humain Cloud in July or August 2027.
Nebius Oxagon capacity agreement
- ▪The 50-megawatt Nebius agreement represents half of the initial 100 megawatts under construction at Oxagon, which forms part of a planned 360-megawatt first phase expected to become operational in stages starting Q4 2027.
- ▪Netherlands-based AI cloud company Nebius signed a preliminary framework agreement with Humain and digital infrastructure developer DataVolt to off-take up to 50 megawatts of data center capacity at Neom's Oxagon.
Saudi Arabia AI hub
- ▪The Saudi cabinet declared 2026 the Year of AI to position artificial intelligence as a key national lever for economic diversification.
- ▪Saudi Arabia postponed its flagship Future Investment Initiative conference scheduled for October 26-29, 2026 following an October 10, 2026 Houthi attack on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport that killed at least 13 people.
- ▪Humain, owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, plans to develop 3 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2030 and over 6 gigawatts by 2034.
US export controls impact
- ▪In Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, firms G42, OpenAI, and Oracle are developing the 1-gigawatt Stargate UAE computing cluster as part of a planned 5-gigawatt UAE-US AI campus alongside technology partner Nvidia.
- ▪Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates both depend on US export approvals to obtain advanced AI chips, making Washington's technology restrictions a key factor in Gulf data center expansion plans.
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