Saudi government plans $100 billion AI and data infrastructure group
Bloomberg confirms rumours about 'Project Transcendence'
#Saudi #investment - As global business, financial and technology leaders discussed the transformative power of artificial intelligence at last week’s FII8 (Future Investment Initiative), rumours swirled about the potential announcement of a new AI group to be formed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). With a scale comparable to Alat, the electronics giant formed earlier this year, industry watchers surmised that the new venture might take on a mandate similar to UAE AI powerhouse G42 and have access to $100 billion in funding. No such announcement has yet been made, but Bloomberg has now confirmed some early details for ‘Project Transcendence’ provided by confidential sources.
SO WHAT? - Saudi Arabia’s investment in digital transformation, AI and other emerging technologies has already brought about massive change in the country, across government, business and the public sector. However, despite plenty of innovation, the Kingdom is not well known for building its own AI products and services. Project Transcendence could bring together the expertise, technology and investment required to galvanise the country’s AI resources, in order to become a leader in creating new AI products, solutions and services.
Here are some of the key points shared by Bloomberg about the new AI venture:
Bloomberg has reported that Saudi Arabia is planning a new government-backed AI group with funding of up to $100 billion, code-named 'Project Transcendence'.
The new group would be structured in a similar way to the Public Investment Fund’s Alat electronics group. It will invest in data centres, startups and other infrastructure to develop AI products and solutions, partnering with global tech players.
Bloomberg reports that the new AI group 'ultimately include multiple government bodies', perhaps hinting at a plan to aggregate existing AI development, infrastructure and services resources under one roof.
With unparalleled resources and access to government technology projects, Project Transcendence would be able to create joint ventures and technology projects together with global technology firms.
As a leading future national industry group, Project Transcendence is, of course, also planned to create new jobs for Saudi citizens, develop local talent and help grow the country's talent pool for AI and related technologies.
The new group would also potentially fund AI startups and help to grow the technology startup ecosystem.
Although the New York Times broke a story earlier this year that the PIF was in talks with Andreessen Horowitz and other venture capital firms to create a $40 billion AI investment fund, this is thought to be a separate projec to the formation of a new Saudi AI group.
THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS - Those that are familiar with the way that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund creates new industry ventures these days, will know that the Fund likes to have ‘all its ducks in line’ before a new venture is announced. The PIF’s electronics and semiconductor group Alat provides a good example.
Alat was announced by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on February 1st, this year. Just two weeks later former Dell Technologies President for Asia Pacific & Japan, Amit Midha, was announced as the new CEO of Alat. The next week Alat held its media launch, at which Midha announced a string of deals for Alat, including a joint venture with SoftBank. Two weeks after that, at LEAP24, Alat announced a partnership with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) to create a national semiconductor initiative. Therefore, we can expect that the timing of the announcement of a new AI group is dependent on details being finalised, but once this happens things will move very quickly.