From oil to Ai: Saudi Arabia to pin country's future to tech revolution

Saudi Arabia is looking to harness its abundant energy reserves to become a regional hub for AI, a top government official has said.

Riyadh has looked to diversify its economy via its Vision 2030 plan, but low oil prices and the slow roll out of its mega projects mean that its lofty ambitions will likely be scaled back.

Instead, it is looking to utilise its vast energy reserves to build huge data centres in the kingdom, coinciding with the recent launch of the Humain tech investment vehicle, which hopes to make Riyadh among the world's biggest AI innovators.

While many countries are looking to venture into the AI market, Saudi Arabia has the advantage of boasting a well-established energy infrastructure and cheap oil, meaning that the kingdom might be able to run data centres at cheaper costs to competitors.

“We have an advantage in Saudi Arabia," Tareq Amin, Humain CEO, told CNN.

"Look at this country’s amazing energy grid that doesn’t require a company like Humain to build the substations and the power to deliver that to a data centre. That means I have saved 18 months of time."

Although still a newcomer to the industry, Amin is aiming to make Saudi Arabia the third biggest AI market in the world, after the US and China.

Humain, established in May, is driving this mission with data centres, cloud storage, and other tech innovations.

It also has the backing of its owner, the state-owned $1 trillion Public Investment Fund, and has already rolled out an AI-powered operating system and an AI laptop since it was launched during President Donald Trump's visit to Riyadh earlier this year.

There have been questions raised about whether Saudi Arabia can obtain the chips it needs to fuel these ambitions from the US, something the UAE has struggled with, and concerns about a potential AI bubble bursting any time soon, which some say could have a bigger impact than the dotcom bust of the late 1990s.

Riyadh might also be mindful that its ambitious Vision 2030 has not gone to plan which could impact the confidence of inward investors, with the construction of The Line and other megaprojects scaled back or delayed due to low oil prices.

"We spent too much," one Saudi official said The Times. "We rushed at 100 miles an hour. We are now running deficits. We need to reprioritise."

There is even talk that the Trojena artificial ski resort will not be ready for the 2029 Asian Winter Games which Saudi Arabia is due to host, with South Korea set to fill in if this happens.

"It will be three or four years late, likely ready by 2032 in time for the 2033 games," a source told The Times.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de-facto leader, has sought to transform the kingdom socially and economically with tech a key part of this vision.

The young prince has laid out a blueprint of mega-projects, such as NEOM, and innovative tourism sites. which are aimed at turning Saudi Arabia away from its reliance on the energy market towards a high tech real estate and services-based economy.

Sources told Reuters last week, that Saudi Arabia was dropping its real estate model and looking at more tangible ventures such as AI and tech.