PIF and Google Cloud join forces to create advanced AI hub in Saudi Arabia
Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, and Google Cloud, have announced a strategic partnership to create a new global Artificial Intelligence (AI) hub near Dammam in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. This landmark agreement, signed at the Future Investment Initiative 8th Edition (FII8), aims to position Saudi Arabia as a leading AI destination for enterprises and start-ups globally.
According to H.E. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of PIF, the partnership showcases PIF’s commitment to nurturing an AI-friendly ecosystem through investments in technology and human capital. The goal is to equip thousands with state-of-the-art tools to support sustainable and innovative infrastructure objectives. He highlighted Saudi Arabia's appeal to global tech partners due to PIF's sector expertise and long-term investment approach.
Under this collaboration, customers will leverage Google Cloud’s technology to drive growth across various industries and enhance the delivery capacity of AI applications. This will result in improved quality AI applications and data services, delivered swiftly to businesses and end consumers.
Ruth Porat, President and Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and Google,
stated that the strategic partnership will expedite the adoption of AI in local languages and industries such as healthcare, retail, and financial services. The initiative aims to create skilled job opportunities for Saudis and facilitate cloud adoption for global businesses.
The partnership, pending regulatory approvals, will involve joint research on Arabic language models and Saudi-specific AI applications. PIF and Google Cloud will collaborate to enhance Gemini — Google’s generative AI model family — by incorporating additional Arabic datasets and leveraging Google Cloud's technology to bolster Arabic-language capabilities. This will empower local entities to integrate these models into their systems and develop sophisticated Arabic language AI applications.
With Google Cloud's expertise in custom silicon, the purpose-built infrastructure will feature the latest tensor processing unit (TPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) accelerators, along with the Vertex AI platform. The Vertex AI platform is Google Cloud’s specialized development platform that enables customers to create generative AI applications.
Furthermore, the partnership aims to enhance the Saudi workforce through AI programs catering to millions of students and professionals. This initiative aligns with the national goal of expanding the information and communication technology (ICT) sector by 50 percent.
Initial research conducted by Access Partnership, a global tech policy advisory firm, in collaboration with Google Cloud estimates that the new AI hub could contribute a cumulative $71 billion to the Saudi economy over eight years. The increased economic activity resulting from AI adoption in Saudi Arabia is projected to foster the creation of numerous highly skilled jobs.
This significant investment builds upon Google Cloud's existing presence in Saudi Arabia, including the Dammam cloud region that was launched last year as part of Google Cloud's global network of 40 regions.
