Saudi Arabia is building massive data centers to become a global AI compute exporter, betting on cheap electricity and land to capture 6% of worldwide AI workload. The move is part of a broader push to diversify away from oil, though the ambition faces skepticism about whether the kingdom can compete with established tech hubs.
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Saudi Arabia's next export AI power. Saudi Arabia wants to be known not just for oil, but for exporting the computing power behind artificial intelligence. According to the Times, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is pouring billions into vast data center complexes on both coasts to sell AI compute to Europe, Asia and Africa. The state backed company Humane aims to handle about 6% of global artificial intelligence workload. That's up from less than 1% a day. Deals are in motion with US giants and the pitch is simple. Cheap land, fast permits and electricity that could cut AI costs by as much as 30% versus the United States. Now there are a lot of skeptics out there. Analyst John Dinsdale says he can't imagine any circumstances that get Saudi to 6%. Still, Humane's Tariq Amin says we're behind in every facet. And executive Saeed Aldobas teases a way bigger plan with Elon Musk's X AI, as one expert put it, dismissing this as a fad risk underestimating Saudi ambition. So what's the real message here? The days of thinking of Saudis of being a one trick pony, they got oil, nothing else, are going to soon be over. They are very ambitious. They're putting their money where their mouth is. They're trying to really position themselves in the the forefront of artificial intelligence. That's going to make them a big player on the international commerce scene for decades to come. Let's dig a little bit deeper here. Now I am not an expert on server or data and I don't want to hold that out to you. I have spent a fair amount of time in the Middle east and I can tell you one constant thread I hear from people who live there, work there, part of governments there is that we have to plan for the day when the oil runs dry. We have to leverage our assets. That's why you see frankly, things like this comedy festival in Saudi Arabia, they are trying to open up, they are trying to bring more western ideas. Yes, they have fights with traditional religionists of their culture who don't want that, who want to block things. But their leadership really does want a growing economy. They do not want to be sitting there when the last drop of oil comes out. And they think, okay, now what we go back to pearl diving, do we go back to being Bedouin? Bedouins or farmers, they don't want that. Once you've established a good life, however you define that, the Rolls Royces, whatever, you don't want to go back and there are plenty of forward thinking people in every one of the major Middle Eastern countries. But Saudi Arabia is obviously dominant. So they are planning for the future and they see AI and AI infrastructure and energy as a part of that. So there's a real logic to it. They have a lot of land, they have low cost of land, they have low cost electricity. You put it together, especially with the willingness to invest huge sums of money up front, it might work out very well. So they have to constantly walk this tightrope between seeming like they're too much in favor of the United States versus too much in favor of China. They're courting Nvidia, amd, Qualcomm, Amazon, Microsoft. They want all the big boys, let's face it. And is this a good thing? Well, it's certainly a better thing than isolation and forcing people to live like it's the 14th century. This is why I differed from a lot of my colleagues in the commentariat. I actually thought it was a good thing that the comedians went over. I don't think it was whitewashed. Nobody now thinks, oh, the head of Saudi Arabia didn't take a hacksaw and slice up the Washington Post columnist and put his bones in a suitcase and take him out of the embassy. No one thinks that. That didn't happen. So I'm in favor of Saudi Arabia, Middle east and everywhere in the world being a part of international commerce. Because when you have a customer who is giving you billions of dollars of business, you're much less likely to wage war against them. That doesn't always stop things, but it certainly is a disincentive to want to wage war or attack or to vilify someone who's giving you money. And I'd much rather Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle east be investing in energy and artificial intelligence than simply more weapons. Now, it is true that AI could be the ultimate weapon that kills humanity. But if that happens, 6% of it being based in the Saudi Arabia, I don't think they're going to get the blame for that. What do you think? I would love to hear from you. This is a show where you and I sift through the top stories of the day and then have a conversation. If you're watching live on any platform, on top, on YouTube, X, Twitch, any of these, you can post your comments right here and we can have a part of the conversation. If you're watching On Demand, post your comments. Typically, I do respond within a day or so to thoughtful comments. So please let me hear from you. Welcome to this show. If you're new to the show, this is called Filter with TJ Walk. I look at top business, economic, technology and culture stories of the day and then filter it through the lens of communication skills and personal development skills. That's what we're about right here. My pledge to you is spend a little time with me each day and you'll learn more about important stories, you and the world. And you'll learn more about yourself, how to improve your own communication skills and personal development skills so that you can be more successful. That's what we're all about. And tying that all together with Saudi Arabia. It doesn't matter if you're a giant country or just a superstar basketball, superstar basketball player. It's very tempting to think what got me to where I am is going to take me to future successes. Now, there are plenty of people who are superstars. At one point in their career, they stopped learning, they stopped evolving, and they stopped changing. And then all of a sudden they're unemployed or even bankrupt. Happens in industry after industry. It happens to countries sometimes. So I give credit to not only Saudi Arabia, but Qatar, the Emirates. They're all scrambling around trying to figure out what's next when the oil dries up, when the natural gas is gone. That's why you see such an investment in not only AI video games coming out of Saudi Arabia. That's why you see so many universities starting in the Middle east. Because the Middle east is giving them money. They know what Americans have forgotten gotten, which is the more universities you have with top quality research, science experiments going on, top minds from around the world congregating in your country, the richer your country will be in the long run. The more startups will happen, the more business will be invigorating. So am I saying everyone in the Middle east is so much smarter than the. No, I wouldn't go that far. But doesn't mean that we in the US can't learn from them occasionally too. And it certainly doesn't mean we can't forget what, what made us strong in the first place.
