Copyright OilPrice
Previously, we reported that Saudi Arabia is digging in for a "long and shallow" oil price war as it looks to regain market share from rivals like U.S. shale producers and OPEC+ members who have been exceeding their production quotas. This comes after Saudi Arabia made significant production sacrifices to support prices for over three years, which allowed competitors to increase their output. Saudi Arabia has also been hedging its oil price bets by rapidly diversifying its economy away from fossil fuels in recent years, expanding into areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), sports and tourism. Indeed, Saudi Arabia's Minister for Investment Khalid Al Falih has revealed that non-oil activities now drive more than half the country’s GDP, with that percentage growing. And, the battle between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for Middle East AI supremacy is quickly heating up. The two countries are not only spending heavily to beef up their AI infrastructure, including building some of the world’s largest data center clusters, but are also forming strategic alliances with U.S. tech giants. Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy has singled out AI as vital to the country’s economic transformation, with 70% of its goals involving data and AI. Related: Too Much of a Good Thing: Solar Overloads Europe’s Electricity System Saudi Arabian artificial intelligence company Humain has launched a $10 billion venture capital fund called Humain Ventures dedicated to investing in AI startups across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Humain Ventures is a key part of Saudi Arabia's larger strategy to become a global hub for AI, and a key part of its Vision 2030 plan for economic diversification. Launched earlier in the current year, Humain has already begun deploying capital into AI infrastructure projects. In pursuit of its AI ambitions, Humain also entered into significant partnerships with major U.S. technology companies, including Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) cloud service AWS, Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and giant data center REIT Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX). Back in May, Oracle announced a $14 billion investment in Saudi Arabia's digital cloud and AI infrastructure over 10 years, as part of its commitment to the Kingdom's Vision 2030. This investment will expand the company's cloud and AI presence by building a comprehensive network of data centers, including existing regions in Riyadh and Jeddah and planned expansions in NEOM and Dammam. AWS and Humain have announced a joint $5 billion investment to build an AI zone in the Kingdom. Meanwhile, Equinix has announced plans to build a $1 billion data center in Saudi Arabia to meet surging demand for AI, cloud and enterprise workloads. The UAE has also launched a slew of AI investments. Last year, the Abu Dhabi government launched MGX, a technology investment company specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced technologies. The fund was founded as a partnership between Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala, and the AI and cloud computing company G42. MGX focuses on AI infrastructure (data centers and connectivity), Semiconductors (chip design and manufacturing) Core AI technologies and applications (software, data, and robotics). At its launch, MGX had a target of managing over $100 billion in assets, making it one of the largest funds in the world dedicated to AI. Since its March 2024 launch, MGX has made several high-profile moves, showcasing its ambition to become a major player in the global AI industry. In September 2024, MGX formed a partnership with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) dubbed the Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership (GAIIP) to invest up to $100 billion in AI data centers and energy infrastructure. Nvidia is a key partner of GAIIP, offering its expertise in AI factories and data centers. Meanwhile, Stargate UAE is a massive AI data center cluster in Abu Dhabi, developed in partnership between the Emirati AI firm G42 and US tech giants like OpenAI, Nvidia, Oracle, and Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO). Stargate UAE is the first international deployment of OpenAI's ambitious global AI infrastructure initiative, also named "Stargate". Positioned as a "national infrastructure," Stargate UAE will provide the country with its own powerful and secure AI capabilities as part of the UAE's broader strategy to diversify its economy and reduce reliance on external technology infrastructure. The project's central feature is a 1-gigawatt AI supercomputing cluster, with an initial 200-megawatt phase planned to be operational by 2026. This facility will be equipped with advanced Nvidia hardware to meet the massive computational demands of training and running large AI models. Further, Abu Dhabi has unveiled plans to invest AED 13 billion (equivalent to $3.54 billion) in its Digital Strategy 2025–2027, with the goal of becoming the world's first fully "AI-native" government by 2027. The strategy aims to automate 100% of all government processes and integrate AI into all digital services. By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Copper Soars to Record High on Supply Crunch and Brighter Outlook India Plans $11.3 Billion Bailout for State Power Firms Japan Tells Trump Tokyo Will Struggle to Ban Russian LNG Imports
