Saudi
Arabia working to build 100MW AI Data Center at NEOM
HUMAIN, a Public Investment Fund (PIF) company
focused on delivering full-stack artificial intelligence capabilities globally,
and Saudi digital infrastructure developer DataVolt have expanded their
partnership to jointly develop 100 megawatts (MW) of a planned 360MW AI-ready
data center at Oxagon, NEOM’s industrial city on the Red Sea coast.
The announcement, made
at LEAP, marks the start of construction and moves the project from planning
into execution. The 100MW facility will form part of the first 360MW phase of
DataVolt’s planned AI data center campus at Oxagon, with the initial capacity
expected to become operational in 2028.
The facility is being
designed to support high-density computing and large-scale AI and cloud
workloads. It is expected to incorporate renewable energy sources, advanced
cooling technologies and high-performance computing clusters to meet the
demands of next-generation artificial intelligence applications.
The project combines
HUMAIN’s capabilities across the AI technology stack with DataVolt’s expertise
in developing, financing, delivering and operating large-scale digital
infrastructure.
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“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, the
groundbreaking represents the beginning of construction on the first 360MW
phase of a broader AI data center campus planned to reach 1.5 gigawatts (GW) at
Oxagon.
DataVolt CEO Rajit
Nanda said delivering AI infrastructure at this scale requires coordinated
execution across power, engineering, construction and operations.
“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,” Nanda said. “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.”
Oxagon Positioned as AI Infrastructure Hub
The project is
expected to benefit from Oxagon’s industrial infrastructure, including
pre-zoned industrial land, access to large-scale energy resources and subsea
cable connectivity linking the region with Europe and Africa.
These capabilities are
increasingly important to the economics of AI infrastructure, where reliable
power, high-speed connectivity, rapid development and operational efficiency
are critical to supporting increasingly intensive computing requirements.
NEOM Managing Director
and Chief Executive Officer Eng. Aiman Al-Mudaifer said the project
demonstrates the development of an industrial ecosystem at Oxagon capable of
supporting large-scale technology infrastructure.
“Breaking ground on
the HUMAIN and DataVolt project is an important demonstration of the industrial
ecosystem taking shape at Oxagon,” Al-Mudaifer said. “The ability to secure the
power, land and connectivity needed to grow is becoming critical to the
economics of AI.”
He added that progress
on DataVolt’s first phase would further strengthen Oxagon’s position by
bringing together the infrastructure requirements needed by companies
developing next-generation AI systems.
Meeting Growing Demand for AI Compute
The development comes
amid rapidly increasing global demand for AI infrastructure, driven by the
expansion of advanced computing, cloud services and increasingly powerful AI
models.
That growth is
creating greater requirements for electricity, high-density data center
capacity and specialized infrastructure capable of supporting accelerated
computing at scale.
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The HUMAIN-DataVolt
partnership is intended to address these requirements by combining AI
capabilities with large-scale infrastructure development, creating a pathway
from data center capacity to deployable AI computing.
The 100MW development
represents a key milestone in the partnership and forms part of the broader
build-out of AI infrastructure at Oxagon. As construction progresses, the
project is expected to contribute to Saudi Arabia’s efforts to establish
large-scale digital infrastructure capable of supporting the next generation of
artificial intelligence.
Source:
Neom
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