HUMAIN and DataVolt Break Ground on 100MW AI Data Centre at NEOM's Oxagon

Construction has officially commenced on a 100MW AI-ready data centre at Oxagon, the coastal industrial city within Saudi Arabia's NEOM megaproject. The facility, delivered through a partnership between HUMAIN—a Public Investment Fund-backed company focused on artificial intelligence capabilities—and Saudi digital infrastructure firm DataVolt, marks a significant step in the Kingdom's push to position itself as a global hub for AI-driven computing.

The 100MW build, first unveiled at the LEAP technology conference, represents the initial segment of a 360MW opening phase, with the inaugural capacity slated for full operational status by 2028. Beyond this first phase, the partners envision a proposed 1.5GW industrial campus at Oxagon, expanding on DataVolt's existing operational pipeline across Saudi Arabia and Central Asia.

The high-density site is engineered to handle demanding AI and cloud computing workloads, integrating renewable power solutions, custom cooling technologies, and high-performance hardware clusters. Under the partnership structure, HUMAIN contributes technical expertise across the software and computing stack, while DataVolt manages funding, construction, and ongoing operational oversight.

"AI ambition only matters when you can turn it into infrastructure, compute and capacity that customers can use," said Tareq Amin, CEO of HUMAIN. "That is what this partnership with DataVolt is about. Construction is underway, 100MW is moving forward, and we are building with the speed and scale that the next era of AI demands."

For DataVolt, breaking ground signals the start of a far larger vision. "AI infrastructure at this scale demands more than capital and capacity, but disciplined execution, from power and engineering through construction and operations," said Rajit Nanda, CEO of DataVolt. "Our partnership with HUMAIN brings together our complementary capabilities with a clear focus on delivery and bringing world class digital infrastructure capacity to the Kingdom. Breaking ground at Oxagon is an important milestone as we move forward with the first 360MW phase and build the infrastructure required to support AI compute at scale."

The joint venture benefits directly from Oxagon's ready-to-build industrial plots, direct energy links, and low-latency subsea cable networks running into Europe and Africa. As global demand for intensive computing power continues to climb, rapid power access and operational efficiency have become decisive factors in data centre viability—advantages that Oxagon is explicitly designed to offer.

"Breaking ground on the HUMAIN and DataVolt project is an important demonstration of the industrial ecosystem taking shape at Oxagon," said Eng. Aiman Al-Mudaifer, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NEOM. "The ability to secure the power, land and connectivity needed to grow is becoming critical to the economics of AI. As progress on the first phase of DataVolt's AI campus accelerates, Oxagon is bringing these advantages together to create a strong proposition for companies building the infrastructure required for the next generation of AI."

Industry observers note that the project underscores a broader regional trend: Gulf states are aggressively investing in AI-ready digital infrastructure to diversify their economies beyond hydrocarbons. The combination of sovereign capital, available land, and strategic geographic positioning between Europe, Africa, and Asia gives locations like Oxagon a competitive edge in the race to host next-generation compute capacity. The successful delivery of this first phase will be closely watched as a benchmark for how quickly large-scale AI data centres can be brought online in the region.