Saudi Infrastructure Fund Signs $667 Million Financing Deals With AI Company Humain

The two agreements, signed in Riyadh and announced on November 9, are the first transactions under Infra's AI Data Center Financing Program. They follow a non-binding framework the two sides announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, which set out up to SR4.5 billion, or about $1.2 billion, for as much as 250 megawatts of AI data centre capacity.

The deals add a state infrastructure lender to the list of government-linked entities paying for Humain's expansion, alongside the Public Investment Fund and Saudi Aramco. They also show how the company is splitting the cost of its build-out between computing hardware and the electricity network that has to be in place before large data centres can run.

The first facility, worth up to SR1.1 billion ($293.3 million), will fund the purchase and deployment of graphics processing units representing about 25 megawatts of IT load. The second, worth up to SR1.4 billion ($373.3 million), will pay for substations, transmission lines and grid connections for Humain's data centres in the kingdom, and is designed to support future IT loads of up to 1 gigawatt. The power work is therefore sized for far more computing than the chips this round will buy. Humain has said it plans to deploy 3 gigawatts of AI data centre capacity by 2030.

Tareq Amin, Humain's chief executive, said "AI infrastructure is becoming foundational to the next generation of computing", and that the agreements would help speed the deployment of computing capacity and the power needed to run it. Esmail Al-Sallom, Infra's chief executive, said: "Through these agreements, we aim to unlock investment well beyond Infra's own commitment."

Humain was launched in May 2025, shortly before US President Donald Trump visited Riyadh, and is backed by the Public Investment Fund, which retains a 51 per cent stake. Saudi Aramco acquired the other 49 per cent on November 1. Aramco's cash contributions to Humain during 2026 total about SR9.9 billion, alongside AI, computing and digital assets it is transferring to the company.

The financing arrives at a difficult moment for AI investment. Global technology shares have fallen in recent weeks as investors question whether spending on chips and data centres will earn an adequate return. Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer at Century Financial, told AGBI that "the Gulf would feel an AI bust through three channels at once: its sovereign portfolios, its domestic data centre build-out and its oil revenue."

Not every Gulf investor is leaning in. Hazem Ben-Gacem, founder and chief executive of Abu Dhabi-based BlueFive Capital, which led a $3 billion funding round for Chinese AI developer Kling AI in July, told AGBI earlier this month that his firm would be more cautious. "I suspect we will take a back seat when it comes to AI investing. It's too high-risk," he said.

The agreements cover only part of the SR4.5 billion outlined at Davos, leaving up to about SR2 billion of that framework still to be converted into signed facilities. The announcements did not name a chip supplier or set out a delivery schedule for the processors.