The Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia and Google Cloud have announced a strategic partnership to establish a new global artificial intelligence (AI) hub near Dammam in the Eastern Province. Unveiled at the 8th Edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII8), the partnership positions Saudi Arabia as a leading destination for AI innovation, catering to both local and global enterprises and startups. The goal of this AI hub is to enhance the Saudi workforce by implementing AI programs for millions of students and professionals, thereby aligning with the national objective of increasing the information and communication technology (ICT) sector by 50%.
Through this collaboration, customers will be able to leverage Google Cloud’s advanced technology to drive growth across various industries and improve the delivery of AI applications. Businesses and end consumers can expect to see improved quality and faster access to AI applications and data services. This partnership, contingent upon obtaining regulatory approvals, will focus on joint research initiatives for Arabic language models and AI applications specifically tailored to the Saudi market. Google Cloud’s investment in custom silicon, including state-of-the-art tensor processing units (TPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs), along with the Vertex AI platform, will support this endeavor for developing generative AI applications.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of PIF, expressed enthusiasm for the new AI hub, emphasizing PIF’s commitment to creating an AI-friendly environment through investments in human capital and technology. Ruth Porat, President and Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and Google, highlighted the potential impact of the partnership in accelerating AI adoption in the local language across industries like healthcare, retail, and financial services. The aim is to create highly-skilled jobs for Saudis and provide opportunities for global businesses through cloud adoption.
Recognizing the technology sector as a key driver of growth in other economic areas such as entertainment, healthcare, and logistics, PIF prioritizes investments in this sector. The partnership between PIF and Google Cloud will also focus on enhancing Arabic-language capabilities in Google’s generative AI model family, Gemini, by integrating additional Arabic datasets. Research conducted by Access Partnership estimates that the new AI hub could contribute up to $71 billion to Saudi Arabia’s GDP over the next eight years, generating thousands of skilled jobs as the economy embraces AI technologies.
This initiative builds upon Google Cloud’s existing presence in Saudi Arabia, including the Dammam cloud region launched last year as part of Google Cloud’s global network of 40 regions. The strategic collaboration between PIF and Google Cloud is set to establish Saudi Arabia as a hub for AI innovation, with a focus on driving growth, creating highly-skilled jobs for Saudis, and providing opportunities for global businesses. Through joint research initiatives and investments in technology, this partnership aims to accelerate AI adoption in the local language and across various industries, ultimately contributing to the economic growth and development of Saudi Arabia.
