Everyone expects two AI blocs. The Gulf is betting on both
Saudi Arabia is building AI infrastructure with US firms and chips, while state-backed HUMAIN has unveiled Arabic technology based on a model from China's MiniMax. HUMAIN has agreed that Chinese frontier models will not be trained on computing capacity obtained through US export approvals, while maintaining relationships with Chinese firms such as ByteDance, Tencent Cloud, and Lenovo. DataVolt is constructing a roughly $1 billion, 100-megawatt facility at NEOM designed to export compute.
Why it matters: This illustrates how geopolitical flexibility allows Gulf states to avoid choosing between US and Chinese AI blocs, positioning them as swing states in the AI competition.