Humain launches AI data center venture with AMD and Cisco in Saudi Arabia

Humain, the Saudi AI company backed by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, is launching a joint venture with AMD and Cisco to build out massive AI data centers across the Middle East, starting with a 100-megawatt facility in Saudi Arabia. That first cluster will be used entirely by Luma AI, a U.S. video-generation startup that signed on as the first customer.

Tareq Amin, CEO of Humain, confirmed Luma will take up the full 100 MW capacity. “They will be the first customer of this cluster,” he said on Tuesday. Construction hasn’t started, but purchase orders are already coming in for future stages, and according to Reuters, this joint AI venture still doesn’t have a name.

Saudi-led data center play targets 4.5 billion users

Humain, Cisco, and AMD, three companies, plan to expand capacity up to 1 gigawatt by 2030. That expansion will include markets in Asia, Europe, India, the Middle East, and Africa, targeting a total population base of about 4.5 billion.

The idea came out of U.S.–Saudi deals originally announced in May, during Donald Trump’s visit to Riyadh. It’s gaining momentum now as Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meet again in Washington.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is backing Humain’s ambitions, drawn in by cheap land and low energy costs across the kingdom.

AMD’s role in this is not small. Back in May, the company said it entered a $10 billion collaboration with Humain to supply advanced AI chips, including the MI450 processors being used in the 100 MW site. Cisco, for its part, is handling network infrastructure and has committed to bringing its sales force into the deal too.

Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco, said his company has over 25 years of experience setting up sales incentives and will be doing the same to help push Humain’s data center capacity out to global customers. No fluff. Just sales muscle. He also confirmed Cisco will provide infrastructure for the upcoming stages.

Humain is leading the whole thing. AMD and Cisco are minority shareholders in the venture and will share profits and losses. Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, told Reuters, “We will together really have responsibility for ensuring that it’s successful.”

Humain’s Amin though added that all energy used in the 2026 build will be 100% renewable. That’s the baseline going forward, not an extra. There’s still no construction underway yet, but Humain says purchase commitments are rolling in for more capacity down the line. They’re already planning around that.

But importantly, this AI deal isn’t a one-off. Other U.S. companies like Nvidia and Qualcomm also locked in partnerships in May under the same flurry of Washington–Riyadh cooperation. But unlike others, Humain has an actual deployment lined up and a customer fully booked. No demos, no trial runs.

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