Saudi Aramco acquires 49% stake in AI company Humain for $2.6 billion
Saudi Aramco is buying a 49% stake in the AI company Humain and investing $2.6 billion into it in 2026. Humain builds data centers, develops the Arabic model ALLaM, and plans 3 gigawatts of capacity by 2030.
Saudi Aramco announced it is buying a 49% stake in the AI company Humain and will invest approximately $2.6 billion into it in 2026, along with its own AI technology. According to Aramco, this is a step to strengthen Humain's position; Humain was founded in May 2025 by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF with the goal of making Saudi Arabia a global AI hub.
Humain builds data centers, develops cloud services, and trains AI models, including the Arabic language model ALLaM. According to the company, it plans to build three gigawatts of data center capacity by 2030 and wants to serve demand both domestically and abroad, with ambitions to become a significant exporter of AI technologies. Aramco wants to use the technology in its own operations while also generating additional revenue by selling its own AI solutions. Through its investment arm Wa'ed Ventures, Aramco also holds a stake in the Korean AI chip maker Rebellions.
According to the source, Humain's business is already ramping up — at the end of August, AMD stated that infrastructure built together with Cisco and Humain is already serving clients in Saudi Arabia and beyond. Humain's CEO Tareq Amin told Semafor in September that, because of the war in Iran, the company is strengthening the protection of its data centers and is drawing on Aramco's experience securing oil infrastructure. According to the source, demand for Humain's services has not declined despite the war.
Why it matters
The deal shows where significant capital is flowing to build AI infrastructure outside the US and China, and who will determine data center capacity and cloud AI services in the Middle East region. For companies outside Saudi Arabia, this is a signal of an emerging new regional AI infrastructure and computing power provider that could be considered in the future as an alternative to existing cloud players.
Relevant practical impact
What this means
For a business
A new regional AI infrastructure provider is emerging with planned capacity of 3 gigawatts by 2030, backed by Aramco's capital and ambition to become an exporter of AI solutions — relevant for companies tracking future suppliers of cloud and AI capacity outside the US and China.
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