Private equity giant Blackstone is channeling significant capital into Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning artificial intelligence sector through a major new partnership. Blackstone’s data center operator, AirTrunk, has joined forces with Humain, an AI company backed by the Saudi state, to develop and operate a new network of AI-focused data centers across the kingdom. The collaboration highlights a strategic pivot in global finance, with Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds increasingly becoming indispensable sources of capital for the infrastructure-heavy data center industry.
The initial deal is valued at US$3bn, but all parties suggest this is merely the foundation for a much larger enterprise. This venture aims to build the critical infrastructure—specialized facilities housing the vast computer systems and storage required to train and run advanced AI models—positioning Saudi Arabia as a future hub for global AI development. The partnership represents a convergence of Western financial power and Gulf state ambition, aiming to meet the insatiable demand for computing power driven by the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence technologies worldwide. The collaboration is a pivotal moment for creating scalable, secure, and sustainable data center capacity to support the exponential growth of AI and cloud computing in the region.
A Partnership Forged on Global AI Demand
The agreement pairs Blackstone’s extensive infrastructure portfolio with Saudi Arabia’s strategic vision. AirTrunk, which is owned by Blackstone and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, brings a wealth of operational experience to the table. Blackstone has diligently assembled a data center empire valued at approximately US$25bn, a process that included the acquisition of AirTrunk for about US$16bn last year. AirTrunk already manages extensive facilities across the Asia-Pacific region, including in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and Malaysia, giving it deep expertise in providing the industrial-scale cooling and infrastructure systems necessary to prevent thousands of servers from overheating.
On the other side of the partnership is Humain, a company established just five months ago, in May 2025, by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is Saudi Arabia’s powerful sovereign wealth fund. This state backing provides immense financial and strategic weight. Further strengthening its position, Saudi’s state oil company, Aramco, has a non-binding term sheet to acquire a “significant minority stake” in Humain. This backing from two of the kingdom’s most important economic entities underscores the national importance placed on this AI infrastructure initiative. Humain’s CEO, Tareq Amin, has emphasized that the US$3bn figure is a starting point, signaling that the project is expected to expand significantly. He suggested that the effort could eventually draw in other major international investment firms, naming BlackRock, KKR, and DigitalBridge Group as potential future partners.
Kingdom’s Strategy for AI Leadership
This data center initiative is a cornerstone of Saudi Arabia’s broader ambition to become a dominant force in the global AI landscape. Tareq Amin articulated this goal clearly, stating his vision for Saudi Arabia to become the “third-largest AI infrastructure provider, behind the US and China”. This is a bold declaration of intent, positioning the kingdom as a direct competitor to established technology superpowers. To achieve this, Humain is moving aggressively to build out its capacity.
Rapid Development and Capacity Goals
Work on the ground has already begun, with Humain having broken ground on its first data center sites within Saudi Arabia. The company anticipates these initial facilities will be operational by early 2026. While the specific locations and initial capacity of these campuses have not yet been disclosed, the long-term target is ambitious. Amin stated that Humain plans to add a massive 1.9 gigawatts of data center capacity by the year 2030. This level of build-out reflects the enormous energy and computational resources required by modern AI, and it signals a long-term commitment to creating a comprehensive national AI ecosystem.
Powering the Future
The immense scale of these planned data centers brings significant challenges, most notably the provision of adequate electricity. Blackstone’s CEO, Stephen Schwarzman, has issued a caution that the electricity required to power such facilities could soon be in “short supply,” a concern echoing throughout the global tech industry as AI’s energy consumption soars. Building 1.9 gigawatts of capacity will require an equally ambitious energy infrastructure plan to ensure the data centers can operate reliably and efficiently without straining the national grid.
Building a High-Tech Supply Chain
A critical component of Humain’s strategy involves securing access to the highly specialized hardware that underpins all advanced AI. The company is actively procuring semiconductors from leading US chipmakers, including Nvidia, whose graphics processing units (GPUs) are the industry standard for training and running complex AI models. The ability to acquire these high-performance chips is a crucial dependency for the entire project.
The geopolitical landscape for advanced technology transfer adds a layer of complexity. Earlier in the year, the Trump administration approved a plan to allow the shipment of advanced semiconductors from both Nvidia and AMD to the Gulf region, though it remains unclear from the primary report whether Humain has secured all necessary approvals for its specific orders. Beyond the core processors, Humain is building a wider network of technology partners to ensure a robust ecosystem. The company has already confirmed partnerships with Qualcomm, the mobile chip giant, and Cisco Systems, a leader in networking equipment. Furthermore, Humain is reportedly in early-stage discussions with Elon Musk’s xAI for a potential data center deal within Saudi Arabia, suggesting an effort to attract major AI developers as future tenants and partners.
Sovereign Wealth Fuels Global Tech Arms Race
The Blackstone-Humain deal exemplifies a broader trend where the immense capital of sovereign wealth funds, particularly those in the Middle East, is reshaping the technology landscape. The construction of data centers is an extraordinarily expensive endeavor, burning through billions of dollars long before any revenue is generated. Sovereign funds like Saudi Arabia’s PIF have the scale and long-term investment horizon perfectly suited to such capital-intensive projects. This financial firepower allows nations like Saudi Arabia to rapidly build infrastructure that might take private ventures many more years to finance and construct.
To further accelerate its impact, Humain has also launched Humain Ventures, a US$10bn fund that began deploying capital over the summer. This investment arm will likely focus on nurturing a domestic and international ecosystem of AI companies, creating demand for the very data center capacity that its parent company is now building. The combination of state-of-the-art infrastructure and a dedicated venture fund creates a powerful synergy, attracting talent and innovation to the kingdom. This strategic deployment of capital is a clear signal that Saudi Arabia is not merely a passive investor but an active participant aiming to secure a leadership position in the next era of technological development.
