Elon Musk's xAI partners with Saudi Arabia-backed Humain to build 500 MW Data Center

Elon Musk has announced plans for his AI startup xAI to partner with Saudi Arabia’s state-backed AI venture Humain to build a massive 500-megawatt data center in the kingdom, powered by Nvidia chips.

The project marks one of the largest Saudi investments in AI infrastructure to date and underscores Riyadh’s ambition to become a global hub for artificial intelligence.

Musk revealed the initiative on Wednesday (November 19) at a US–Saudi investment forum in Washington, speaking alongside Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

The event also featured scheduled addresses by US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, reflecting the high-level political backing behind emerging US–Saudi tech cooperation.

xAI’s strategic expansion

Musk has been rapidly expanding xAI, the company behind the AI chatbot Grok, following his fallout with OpenAI, a company he co-founded. The billionaire has since positioned xAI as a direct competitor to OpenAI and Anthropic, racing to develop more powerful AI models and secure access to high-performance computing chips.

Saudi ambitions and chip access

Humain, a major player in Saudi Arabia’s AI push, has been working with Nvidia and other semiconductor suppliers. But the kingdom has faced a key hurdle: US export restrictions on the most advanced AI chips.

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that the Trump administration is preparing to approve sales of high-end Nvidia chips to Humain, clearing the way for Saudi Arabia to accelerate its AI infrastructure plans.

A major data center powered by Nvidia

The planned 500 MW data center—far larger than typical AI facilities—will rely heavily on Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs), the gold standard for training and deploying AI models. The partnership gives Musk a powerful new base of infrastructure for xAI, while offering Saudi Arabia a dramatic leap forward.

More details—including timeline, financing, and facility location—are expected soon as US officials finalize chip export approvals and construction plans move forward.