Aramco to merge AI assets with HUMAIN
Aramco to acquire minority stake in PIF’s HUMAIN, move AI assets
#SaudiArabia #investment - Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and state oil company Aramco have signed a non-binding term sheet for Aramco to acquire a significant minority stake in national AI company HUMAIN, with PIF retaining majority ownership. The transaction will see Aramco contribute AI assets, capabilities and talent into HUMAIN, enabling rapid scaling of operations to capture value and accelerate growth in the AI sector. The energy giant’s AI assets include its AI-focused Aramco Digital subsidiary and the 19,000 LPU Groq AI inference data centre. Aramco announced a further $1.5 billion in funding for the expansion of the data centre in February during LEAP. Aramco and PIF provided no details on what assets and talent would be transferred to HUMAIN, nor the timeframe.
SO WHAT? - Aramco is the largest investor in artificial intelligence in Saudi Arabia, with the most advanced AI R&D, development and implementation in the Kingdom. The energy group has invested heavily in new systems, new AI talent, AI initiatives, plus partnerships with global vendors and consultants. However, in recognition of both its own growing AI needs and those of the public sector, Aramco formed Aramco Digital in 2023. Under the leadership of then CEO Tareq Amin, Aramco Digital forged a partnership with Groq and committed to building the world’s largest AI inferencing cluster using Groq LPUs (Language Processing Units). As Saudi Arabia’s new national AI champion, with plans to drive value across the entire AI supply chain from AI data centres to edge devices, HUMAIN going to be better placed to leverage such investments and capitalise on AI ecosystem opportunities.
Here are a few key points about the Aramco-PIF announcement:
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Aramco have signed a non-binding term sheet for Aramco to acquire a significant minority stake in national AI company HUMAIN, with PIF retaining majority ownership.
The stated intention of the transaction is to enable the rapid scaling up of HUMAIN’s operations to capture value and accelerate its growth in the AI sector. According to HUMAIN CEO Tareq Amin, the company aims to to scale rapidly towards a dual listing on NASDAQ and Saudi Arabia’s securities exchange Tadāwul within four years.
Under the deal — the details of which remain to be agreed — Aramco plans to contribute AI assets and talent to HUMAIN. Relevant assets include Aramco’s subsidiary Aramco Digital and its Groq AI infrastructure cluster, which went online in early 2025. However, no details on assets were officially announced.
Meanwhile, Aramco plans to leverage HUMAIN’s AI infrastructure to translate advanced AI capabilities into industrial applications, enhancing efficiency and reducing emissions across its operations as one of the world’s leading integrated energy and chemicals companies.
The transaction aims to support Saudi Arabia’s ambition of becoming a global leader in enabling advanced data and AI technologies whilst attracting international talent and investment opportunities to the Kingdom.
HUMAIN was launched in May 2025 and builds full-stack AI capabilities across four core areas: next-generation datacentres, hyper-performance infrastructure and cloud platforms, advanced AI models, and transformative AI solutions.
The platform includes ALLAM, described as one of the world’s most powerful multimodal Arabic large language models, providing region-specific language capabilities alongside global AI infrastructure.
Saudi Company for Artificial Intelligence, wholly owned by PIF, was recently transferred to HUMAIN to enhance the company’s capabilities in line with PIF’s.
The term sheet signed by Aramco and PIF remains subject to signing of definitive agreements, applicable regulatory approvals and other customary conditions, with completion timeline not disclosed.
ZOOM OUT - The Aramco-PIF HUMAIN investment announcement comes amidst a number of major developments unveiled at the annual Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh. HUMAIN launched its agentic AI operating system HUMAIN ONE, powered by its Arabic-first large language model ALLAM. As part of the launch, the company disclosed strategic partnerships with EY, Groq and application development platform Replit. The company also announced plans with US semiconductor company Qualcomm to deploy advanced AI infrastructure targeting 200 megawatts in 2026 using Qualcomm’s newly-launched AI200 and AI250 rack solutions. Additionally, private equity firm Blackstone committed approximately $3 billion through its AirTrunk subsidiary to develop datacentres and AI infrastructure throughout Saudi Arabia. Lastly, HUMAIN CEO Tareq Amin revealed the company’s ambitions to list on Saudi and NASDAQ exchanges within three to four years.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
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