Humain plans not to use Huawei chips to gain U.S. approval

Saudi Arabian AI firm Humain is intensifying efforts to secure U.S. approval for advanced semiconductor exports, emphasizing its commitment to excluding Huawei technology from its operations. 

CEO Tareq Amin has pledged that Humain will not incorporate Huawei’s Ascend chips into its infrastructure, aiming to alleviate U.S. security concerns and facilitate access to cutting-edge AI accelerators from companies like NVIDIA, AMD, and Qualcomm.

Emphasizing that Humain will not buy equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies Co., Humain’s chief executive officer, Amin, said, “In our case, I will never do that,” He said in an interview at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s annual investment showpiece. 

For some time, the U.S. government has imposed a series of restrictions on China’s tech industry, including blacklisting companies such as Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., which are seen as national champions.

Ambitious AI expansion seeks thousands of advanced chips by 2030

Founded in May, Humain is central to Saudi Arabia’s aspiration to be a global leader in AI. Controlled by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the company has announced developments linked to FII in recent weeks, including a $3 billion data center partnership with Blackstone Inc. Amin said that more potential investors may join the project, including BlackRock Inc., KKR & Co., and DigitalBridge.

A former Aramco Digital executive, Amin has his sights set on making Humain the world’s third-largest provider of computing capacity – behind only the U.S. and China. A significant barrier, though, is securing state-of-the-art AI accelerators from U.S. companies such as Nvidia Corp.

The Trump administration had lifted a previous export ban on chips to the Gulf. However, Saudi Arabia’s licenses have still not been approved, partly due to concerns that China could acquire the technology. Amin contrasted the challenge with what he had done at Rakuten Group Inc., where he had sought U.S. foreign investment approvals.

Amin said that he shared Humain’s security plans with U.S. officials. He noted that, as CEO of a private entity, all he could do was put together what he called the defense package to show the security apparatus of Humain. Amin also stated that it is really remarkably different than anything else in this region.

Humain has formed partnerships with Western tech firms, including Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., and California-based startup Groq. Earlier this week, the company said it would be the first customer for Qualcomm Inc.’s new chips, designed to compete with Nvidia. All these companies have applied for export licenses to sell to Saudi Arabia.

The startup plans to deploy roughly 18,000 AI chips in 2026, which Amin described as the “first phase,” with ambitions to expand to 400,000 chips by 2030.

Amin expressed optimism about ongoing U.S.-Saudi diplomatic talks regarding chip exports, citing a planned visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Humain’s chairman, to the U.S. next month.

“We’re not far away,” Amin said. “You could derive a possible outcome in November.”

PIF and Aramco join forces to boost Saudi Arabia’s AI leadership

On related development, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Aramco announced on Tuesday that they had inked a non-binding term sheet for the oil giant to acquire a minority stake in Humain.

The deal consolidates the AI assets and capabilities of the two firms under Humain, paving the way for its global growth and further solidifying Saudi Arabia’s status as a key hub for AI.

According to Amin H. Nasser, Aramco President & CEO, Aramco’s planned investment in Humain is expected to strengthen its leadership in industrial AI applications and digital solutions, while accelerating the development of Saudi Arabia’s AI infrastructure and driving national transformation.

He continued to say that Aramco is well-positioned to capitalize on the opportunities arising from the rising energy demand linked to AI growth, use state-of-the-art techniques to enhance efficiency, reduce emissions, and maintain its competitive edge as one of the world’s leading integrated energy and chemicals companies.

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