Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed Tuesday that the tech giant will provide more than 18,000 of its advanced Blackwell AI chips to Saudi firm Humain, a major boost to AI infrastructure in the Middle East.
The agreement was announced as part of a White House-led Saudi Arabia delegation that featured President Donald Trump and a number of prominent American business leaders. Nvidia’s stock jumped over 5% in Tuesday trading following the news.
“I am so delighted to be here to help celebrate the grand opening, the beginning of Humain,” Huang said to the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum in Riyadh. “It is an incredible vision, indeed, that Saudi Arabia should build the AI infrastructure of your nation so that you could participate and help shape the future of this incredibly transformative technology.”
Saudi Arabia Secures Massive Nvidia AI Chip Deal
The deal is focused on Nvidia’s GB300 Blackwell chips, some of the most advanced of the firm’s AI chips, and only announced officially this year. The chips will power data centers with a combined capacity of 500 megawatts in Saudi Arabia.
Humain, a company owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has plans grander than this first acquisition. The company plans to utilize “several hundred thousand” of Nvidia’s GPUs in the future as it looks to develop AI models and build enormous data center infrastructure.
“Saudi Arabia is rich with energy, transforming the energy through these giant versions of these Nvidia AI supercomputers, which are essentially AI factories,” Huang explained.
The Saudi agreement is an expression of the intensifying worldwide battle for access to Nvidia’s chips, now essential enablers for the training and employment of sophisticated AI systems such as ChatGPT. The news also expresses the Trump administration’s leveraging of these highly prized chips as diplomatic and economic bargaining chips.
AMD and Nvidia Fuel Saudi Arabia’s $10 Billion AI Push  Â
AMD also established its involvement in the Saudi AI project, stating that it too would provide Humain with chips as part of the 500-megawatt AI capacity development. AMD revealed that Humain has spent $10 billion on the venture, news which lifted AMD shares by 4% in trading on Tuesday.
The arrangements are well-timed for U.S. export policy. Last week, the Commerce Department announced it will replace what it referred to as “President Joe Biden’s rule” with what it referred to as a “much simpler rule” for chip exports. Nvidia has been required to obtain export licenses for its AI chips since 2023 due to national security threats.
During the occasion, President Trump openly acknowledged Huang’s presence while bemoaning that Apple CEO Tim Cook was absent.
“Thank you very much, Jensen,” Trump went on. “I mean, Tim Cook is not here, but you are.” Apple refused to comment on the president’s remark.
The Saudi-Nvidia alliance is one of the largest known uses of next-generation AI hardware beyond the US and China, and it positions Saudi Arabia to become a leader in the world AI market.
Industry watchers think that this is a sign that the geographic hub of AI computing capability, which has hitherto been based in North America and East Asia, might be shifting. With Saudi’s rich energy resources powering these energy-hungry data centers, the country is using its natural assets to establish competitiveness in the AI business.
This release is part of the steps under Saudi Arabia’s broader Vision 2030 initiative, which aims to diversify the country’s economy beyond oil and be a global leader in emerging technologies.
The growing international reach of U.S. chip technology comes with enduring tensions of technology transfer and security issues, most notably China’s access to cutting-edge AI technology. The balance that the new American administration puts on commercial potential and security is a question that continues to fascinate industry observers.
