STC and Humain launch a joint venture to build up to 1GW of AI data centre capacity, accelerating Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 digital ambitions.
Saudi Arabia’s STC Group and Humain, the Kingdom’s national artificial intelligence company, have agreed to establish a joint venture to develop and operate large-scale, AI-focused data centres.
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Under the agreement, Humain will hold a 51% stake, while Center3—STC’s data centre subsidiary—will own the remaining 49%, according to a filing to the Saudi stock exchange. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The venture will initially roll out 250 megawatts (MW) of capacity, with total operational power expected to scale up to 1 gigawatt (GW) over time. Development will proceed in line with customer demand and contractual commitments.
Owned entirely by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Humain plays a central role in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy to localise advanced digital infrastructure and build sovereign AI capabilities. STC, in which PIF holds a 62% stake, currently operates around 25 data centres across the Kingdom and continues to expand its footprint.
Humain began work on its first facilities in Riyadh and Dammam earlier this year, with launches expected in the second quarter of next year. Each site will initially deliver at least 100MW of capacity.
Launched ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to Riyadh in May, Humain is focused on developing next-generation data centres, cloud platforms and large-scale Arabic-language AI models.
Why STC and Humain Collaboration Matters to MENA
This partnership signals Saudi Arabia’s most aggressive move yet into AI infrastructure at hyperscale. A 1GW pipeline positions the Kingdom as a regional anchor for AI compute, cloud services and advanced data workloads—areas critical for startups, governments and enterprises across MENA.
As Gulf states race to secure sovereign AI capacity, the STC–Humain venture strengthens Saudi Arabia’s bid to become a regional AI infrastructure powerhouse, reducing reliance on foreign data centres while attracting global AI players to the region.
