PIF and Google Cloud have launched a strategic alliance aimed at establishing a global artificial intelligence (AI) hub in proximity to Dammam, situated in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Region.
Enhancing Saudi Arabia’s AI landscape
As highlighted in a press release from PIF, this significant partnership, formalized during the 8th edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII8), further cements Saudi Arabia’s status as a worldwide AI center and a prime location for both enterprises and startups. The collaboration is designed to enhance the capabilities of the Saudi workforce by providing AI training programs to millions of students and professionals, thus supporting the national goal of expanding the information and communication technology (ICT) sector by 50 percent.
Leveraging Google Cloud technology
Through this partnership, customers will have access to Google Cloud’s advanced technology, facilitating growth across various industries and increasing the capacity for AI application delivery. Both businesses and consumers can look forward to improved quality in AI applications and data services, which will be locally delivered with enhanced efficiency.
Read more: center3, Huawei to build Huawei Cloud Region in Saudi
Focus on Arabic language models
Pending regulatory approvals, the partnership will focus on collaborative research related to Arabic language models and AI applications tailored to Saudi Arabia. Leveraging Google Cloud’s significant investment and expertise in custom silicon, this high-performance infrastructure will incorporate cutting-edge tensor processing unit (TPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) accelerators, in addition to the Vertex AI platform—Google Cloud’s dedicated development environment for creating generative AI applications.
Attractiveness of Saudi Arabia for investors
The announcement emphasized that this collaboration highlights Saudi Arabia’s appeal for significant technological initiatives. Moreover, investors are attracted to the nation’s strategic position at the intersection of three continents, its sophisticated infrastructure, access to rapidly growing Middle Eastern markets, and the potential for reliable and cost-effective renewable energy to support the AI hub.
Commitment to AI development
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of PIF, expressed excitement about welcoming the new Google Cloud AI hub to Saudi Arabia, stating that the partnership reflects PIF’s commitment to nurturing an AI-friendly landscape through investments in human capital and technology. He noted that this would equip thousands with state-of-the-art tools to support sustainable and innovative infrastructure ambitions, asserting that Saudi Arabia is an ideal destination for global tech partners due to PIF’s sector expertise and long-term investment strategy.
Accelerating AI adoption
In a similar vein, Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google, conveyed that the strategic alliance would expedite the adoption of AI in local languages and across various sectors—including healthcare, retail, financial services, and beyond—for enterprises and startups in Saudi Arabia and globally. She further emphasized that as part of Saudi Arabia’s dynamic technology ecosystem, their aim was to generate highly skilled job opportunities for Saudis and provide avenues for global businesses to foster growth through cloud adoption.
PIF’s broad investment focus
Technology remains a key investment focus for PIF, playing a crucial role in vital economic sectors such as entertainment, financial services, healthcare, transportation, logistics, utilities, and renewables. Additionally, PIF’s investments in telecommunications, communications, and technology include the Saudi Information Technology Company (SITE), which offers digital and cyber services through local talent, and iot squared, a firm specializing in the Internet of Things.
Advancing Arabic-language capabilities
To enhance Arabic-language models, PIF and Google Cloud will investigate augmenting the Arabic-language capabilities of Gemini, Google’s generative AI model family, by integrating additional Arabic datasets with Google Cloud’s technology. This initiative aims to empower local businesses, researchers, and developers to incorporate these models into their systems, facilitating the development of sophisticated Arabic-language AI agents and applications.
Economic impact of the AI hub
Preliminary research commissioned by Google Cloud and conducted by the tech policy advisory firm Access Partnership estimates that the new AI hub could contribute a total of $71 billion to Saudi Arabia’s GDP over an eight-year period. The anticipated rise in economic activity from AI adoption is expected to foster the creation of thousands of highly skilled direct and indirect jobs.
Building on existing infrastructure
These initiatives build upon Google Cloud’s existing footprint in Saudi Arabia, which includes the Dammam cloud region, launched last year as part of Google Cloud’s global network comprising 40 regions.
New cloud region in Dammam
In November 2023, Google announced the establishment of a cloud region in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, which significantly improves access to a comprehensive range of Google Cloud services. These services include cloud computing, storage, data analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI).
The new cloud region caters to a varied customer base across the country and the wider Middle East region, specifically focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups. With this addition, Google Cloud now boasts 39 cloud regions and 118 zones, providing cloud services to over 200 countries and territories around the globe.
The introduction of this Google cloud region in Saudi Arabia has the potential to enhance the nation’s economy, with projections indicating it could contribute approximately $109 billion to the gross domestic product (GDP) from 2024 to 2030. This estimate comes from research commissioned by Google Cloud and conducted by Access Partnership. Furthermore, it is expected to create around 148,600 jobs by 2030.
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