Wedbush: Middle East (Saudi Arabia and UAE) to be next center of AI infrastructure boom
The next major area of penetration for the AI revolution appears to be the Middle East, Wedbush analysts say in a research note. Analyst Dan Ives said the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure in the Middle East marks a “watershed moment” for U.S. tech companies, driven by major developments in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. President Trump was recently there to negotiate a deal to have the U.S. tech sector make data centers, supercomputers, software, and overall infrastructure for a massive AI buildout in Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E in the coming years, the analysts say. Saudi Arabia is now due to get 18,000 Nvidia chips for a massive data center while the U.A.E. has Trump’s support to guild the largest data center outside of the U.S., two factors that should start an era of new growth for the U.S. tech sector and be a game-changer for the industry, the analysts say.
“We believe the market opportunity in Saudi Arabia and UAE alone could over time add another $1 trillion to the broader global AI market in the coming year,” Wedbush said. “No Nvidia chips for China… red carpet rollout for the Kingdom,” the firm wrote, contrasting Middle East expansion with chip export restrictions affecting Beijing. Ives called the momentum in the region “a bullish indicator that further shows the U.S. tech’s lead in this 4th Industrial Revolution.” He said that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was “the Godfather of AI” and this author totally agrees. Without Nvidia [1.] AI-GPT chips there would be no AI compute servers in the massive data centers now being built.
Wedbush believes Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar are now on the “priority list” for U.S. tech, with regional demand for AI chips, software, robotics, and data centers expected to surge over the next decade. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Note 1. Nvidia should see its trend of strong revenue growth continue, but consensus estimates may not fully account for the recent H20 export restriction, Raymond James’ Srini Pajjuri and Grant Li say in a research note. The analysts expect revenue growth between $4 billion and $5 billion during the past six quarters to continue on strong ramps for its Blackwell chip, but they note that the restrictions on the H20 chips present a roughly $4 billion headwind, leaving them to expect limited sequential growth in 2Q. “That said, we fully expect management to sound bullish on 2H given the strong hyperscale capex trends and recent AI diffusion rule changes,” say the analysts. Nvidia is scheduled to report 1QFY26 results on May 28th.
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Last week, Saudi Arabia unveiled a series of blockbuster AI partnerships with US chip makers, cloud infrastructure providers, and software developers this week, signaling its ambition to become a global AI hub.
Image Credit: Adam Flaherty / Shutterstock.com
Leveraging its $940 billion Public Investment Fund (PIF) and strategic location, Saudi Arabia is forming partnerships to create sovereign AI infrastructure including advanced data centers and Arabic large language models. Google, Oracle, and Salesforce are deepening AI and cloud commitments in Saudi Arabia that will support Vision 2030, a 15-year program to diversify the country’s economy. Within that, the $100 billion Project Transcendence aims to put the kingdom among the top 15 countries in AI by 2030.
The deals include a $20 billion commitment from Saudi firm DataVolt for AI data centers and energy infrastructure in the US and an $80 billion joint investment by Google, DataVolt, Oracle, Salesforce, AMD, and Uber in technologies across both nations, according to a White House fact sheet.
References:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wedbush-ives-sees-ai-boom-123710639.html
https://www.wsj.com/tech/tech-media-telecom-roundup-market-talk-87c22df6
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Saudi Arabia’s New AI Company
Launch: HUMAIN was launched in May 2025 by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and is backed by the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Leadership: The company is chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and led by CEO Tareq Amin, former head of Aramco Digital.
Mission: HUMAIN aims to operate and invest across the entire AI value chain, becoming a regional and global AI hub. This includes developing and managing AI technologies, investing in the AI ecosystem, and building strategic partnerships.
Strategic Importance: HUMAIN’s launch aligns with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which seeks to diversify the Kingdom’s economy and reduce its reliance on oil. The company will focus on developing an Arabic large language model and building advanced AI infrastructure, including data centers and cloud computing capabilities.
Partnerships: HUMAIN has already formed partnerships with major tech companies, including NVIDIA and Groq. These partnerships aim to develop AI factories and deploy advanced AI chips to power Saudi Arabia’s growing AI ecosystem.
Investments: HUMAIN plans to invest over $100 billion in AI by 2030, solidifying its position as a major player in the global AI landscape.
Saudi Arabia’s AI Ambitions
Vision 2030: Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan recognizes AI as a key driver of economic diversification and technological advancement.
National AI Strategy: The Kingdom is investing heavily in AI to develop a strong national AI ecosystem, attracting foreign investment, and fostering local talent development.
AI Hub: Saudi Arabia aims to become a global AI hub, leveraging its strategic location, abundant resources, and growing tech sector.
Ethical AI: The Kingdom emphasizes the ethical development and deployment of AI, ensuring that AI technologies are used responsibly and for the benefit of society.
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund-backed artificial intelligence company HUMAIN has selected US chipmaker and Nvidia competitor Groq for its inference work. Groq is a California chipmaker founded by a former Google executive. It will be at the core of some of these efforts. The firm uses an alternative to the GPU-based systems favored by market leader Nvidia. Groq says its system can perform faster inference, the step when trained large language models respond to individual prompts. Nvidia remains the leader for its training capabilities.
https://www.semafor.com/article/05/13/2025/saudis-new-ai-firm-picks-us-chipmaker-groq-for-inference