The governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund described the kingdom as qualified to become a potential hub for artificial intelligence activity outside the United States.
The fund’s governor, Yasser Al-Rumayyan, at an investment event in Miami sponsored by the sovereign wealth fund, attributed this to Saudi Arabia’s energy resources and financing capacity.
“Artificial intelligence will consume a lot of energy and we are global leaders when it comes to fossil fuel energy and when it comes to renewable energy,”said Rumayyan.
Al-Rumayyan added that the kingdom also has the “political will” to implement artificial intelligence projects and has abundant funds that it can allocate to promote technology development.
His comments suggest that data centers may be a key part of Riyadh’s strategy to capitalize on the growing demand for generative artificial intelligence technology, which requires enormous processing capabilities.
The Public Investment Fund allocates more than 70% of its funding to projects and investments inside Saudi Arabia and aims to direct between 20 and 25% to finance international investments, noting that about 40% of the fund’s international investments are in the United States, according to Al-Rumayyan.
He added that the Saudi Public Investment Fund is pumping about 40 to 50 billion dollars a year and this will increase to 70 billion dollars a year between 2025 and 2030.
It is worth mentioning that the fund invested 31.5 billion dollars during 2023, equivalent to a quarter of the amounts spent by sovereign wealth funds around the world last year, amounting to approximately 124 billion dollars.
The PIF plays a key role in the kingdom’s economic diversification plan with the aim of reducing dependence on oil revenues.
Source: Forbes
