Musk’s xAI to Become Customer of Nvidia Saudi Arabia Data Center

Nvidia and xAI announced Wednesday that xAI will be the inaugural client for a massive data center under construction in Saudi Arabia. The facility will be equipped with hundreds of thousands of Nvidia GPUs, underscoring the escalating demand for AI infrastructure.

The announcement, made during the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, D.C., where both Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang were present, signals a deepening technological collaboration between Silicon Valley and the Kingdom.

This agreement builds upon Nvidia’s May announcement that it would supply Saudi Arabia’s Humain with chips consuming 500 megawatts of power. Wednesday’s update revealed Humain’s project will incorporate approximately 600,000 Nvidia GPUs, a clear indicator of the project’s scale and ambition.

Humain, launched earlier this year and backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), aims to establish a leading AI infrastructure hub. The data center project gained initial momentum during a visit by Jensen Huang to Saudi Arabia alongside President Donald Trump.

“Could you imagine, a startup company approximately 0 billion dollars in revenues, now going to build a data center for Elon,” Huang remarked, highlighting the unprecedented nature of the venture.

This facility represents a notable example of what Nvidia is championing as “sovereign AI.” The company argues that nations increasingly need dedicated AI infrastructure to safeguard national security and cultural identities. This trend represents a potentially vast market for Nvidia’s high-margin AI chips, extending beyond a small group of hyperscale cloud providers. Strategic analysts suggest this approach aims to diversify Nvidia’s revenue streams and establish long-term partnerships with sovereign wealth funds.

Huang’s presence at an event with President Trump further emphasizes the administration’s focus on AI. Nvidia’s lobbying efforts for licenses to export advanced AI chips to China have seen Huang cultivating a relationship with the President, navigating the complex geopolitical landscape surrounding AI technology.

During the agreement’s announcement, Musk playfully misspoke about the data center’s size, referring to megawatts instead of a larger unit. He then joked that plans for a facility 1,000 times larger would have to wait. “That will be eight bazillion, trillion dollars,” Musk quipped.

Humain’s infrastructure strategy is not solely reliant on Nvidia. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Qualcomm will also contribute chips and AI systems to the project. AMD CEO Lisa Su and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon both attended a state dinner Tuesday honoring Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

AMD is expected to provide its Instinct MI450 GPUs for AI by 2030, consuming potentially as much as 1 gigawatt of power. Cisco will augment the data center’s infrastructure, further diversifying the technological ecosystem.

Qualcomm will supply its AI200 and AI250 data center chips, unveiled in October, with Humain deploying 200 megawatts of Qualcomm chips, solidifying Qualcomm’s entry into the data center AI acceleration market.