stc has announced a joint venture with Humain and center3 to develop and operate AI data centres.

The companies announced a joint venture partnership to develop infrastructure capable of supporting data centre development and operations capable of hosting up to 1GW of AI workloads.

Combining center3’s scale, regional connectivity and data centre leadership with Humain’s strategy, the collaboration aims to lay the groundwork for the high-capacity and low latency infrastructure deemed essential for the AI era.

“Our role in this partnership is to turn vision into capacity,” said Fahad AlHajeri, CEO of center3. “Leveraging our expanding data centre footprint, interconnected platforms, and proven operations, we will deliver the density, resilience and availability required for next-generation AI computing.

“This JV marks an important step in scaling the infrastructure foundation to meet surging regional market demand.”

The alliance also aims to support high-performance hosting of critical digital assets, fosters the AI ecosystem and creates a robust platform for the deployment of large language models (LLMs) and mission-critical AI applications.

Currently, Saudi Arabia is seeking to grow its AI development capabilities to capitalise on continued rising demand for computing power – which is also part of a broader effort to move away from oil revenues.

Based in Saudi Arabia, AI company Humain has already secured several powerful agreements, including with xAI and AirTrunk to develop data centre projects in the country.

“AI at scale requires purpose-built compute, efficiency and resilience,” said Tareq Amin, CEO of Humain. “Through this joint venture, Humain and stc group are engineering infrastructure capable of meeting the most demanding workloads while designed to support future advancements.”

“This joint venture with Humain reinforces our commitment to enabling the region’s digital future,” said Olayan Alwetaid, CEO of stc group.

“By combining Humain’s AI leadership with center3’s world-class data centre expertise, we are creating the right foundation to strengthen the region’s capacity to host next-generation AI workloads.”

The news comes in the same week as stc Group signed a new five-year Master Frame Agreement (MFA) with Ericsson to advance Saudi Arabia’s digital infrastructure.

Aiming to boost technology adoption across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the agreement will harness Ericsson’s latest portfolio of offerings. This includes 5G hardware and software, cloud-native solutions, advanced managed services and infrastructure and network support.

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