Saudi Arabia's Humain picks Goldman Sachs to advise on data centre financing, sources say
May 19, 2026
Saudi Arabia's Humain picks Goldman Sachs to advise on data centre financing, sources say
Saudi Arabia-backed artificial intelligence company Humain has selected Goldman Sachs to advise on a financing package for data centre construction in the kingdom, which could be worth at least 20 billion riyals ($5.33 billion), according to two sources familiar with the matter. The move comes as the firm races to expand capacity amid a regional AI push, with plans to fund data centres and GPU chips for 2 gigawatts (GW) of capacity — roughly one-third of its target by 2034.
The data centres are expected to be developed in the Riyadh area. Saudi Arabia, like its Gulf neighbours, is accelerating AI infrastructure investment to capitalise on surging global demand for computing power, banking on cheap energy to attract hyperscalers such as Google, Microsoft, and Meta. The financing push follows rising regional security concerns after Iranian drone strikes hit AWS data centres in the UAE and Bahrain. Humain, established last year and owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has already secured agreements with xAI (in which it is a minority shareholder) and Blackstone-backed AirTrunk for data centre projects in the country.
Source: Reuters
