Saudi Arabia’s state-backed AI company Humain has partnered with AirTrunk, the Asia-Pacific data centre operator owned by Blackstone, to invest $3bn in a hyperscale data centre campus in the Kingdom, marking AirTrunk’s first expansion into the Middle East.

The venture is part of Saudi Arabia’s broader effort to position itself as a global digital hub and diversify its economy away from oil.

It will combine Humain’s AI expertise and local mandate with AirTrunk’s experience developing and operating large-scale facilities for major cloud and technology clients.

Humain chief executive Tareq Amin said the project would create “scalable, secure and sustainable” infrastructure to support the rapid growth of AI and cloud computing in the region.

Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, has been expanding its investments in digital infrastructure as demand for AI computing surges.

Blackstone’s Chairman and chief executive, Stephen Schwarzman, said the initiative would “help power the next era of innovation in the Middle East” and reflects Blackstone’s conviction that AI remains one of the most transformative investment themes globally.

Humain and AirTrunk plan to finance, build and operate a network of next-generation data centres across Saudi Arabia, while developing local technical expertise to support the country’s long-term digital ambitions.

Humain, a company in Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund, is developing full-stack AI capabilities spanning advanced data centres, high-performance infrastructure, Arabic large language models and applied AI solutions.

Saudi Arabia’s data centre market is expanding rapidly, driven by rising cloud adoption, AI demand, and large-scale smart city projects such as Neom.

The sector is estimated to be worth around $2.1bn in 2025 and is projected to nearly double to $3.9bn by 2030, according to industry data.

Robin Khuda, founder and chief executive of AirTrunk, described the partnership as a “strategic entry into one of the world’s fastest-growing digital regions” and said it would help Saudi Arabia realise its ambition to become a “data- and AI-driven economy”.