In a significant move to advance its national technology strategy, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has signed a multi-year memorandum of understanding with the European AI and compute infrastructure company D-AI. The partnership aims to develop sovereign national data centers, next-generation digital identity frameworks, and robust cloud computing systems within the Kingdom.
A Strategic Push for Digital Sovereignty
This collaboration is a cornerstone of Saudi Arabia’s broader strategy to establish a sovereign AI and cloud environment, thereby reducing its reliance on international cloud services. The agreement ensures that all data will be stored, processed, and governed under Saudi jurisdiction. This provides secure, seamless access to government systems and public services while maintaining complete national control over critical digital assets, a key objective of Vision 2030.
The initiative will be guided by a shared-benefit economic model designed to retain national value within Saudi Arabia. This model emphasizes locally governed systems, operational command within the Kingdom, and the development of homegrown technical leadership, ensuring full national ownership of data infrastructure and security protocols.
Building National Infrastructure and Talent
Under the agreement, D-AI will design and deploy advanced national data centers capable of supporting large-scale AI training, sophisticated cybersecurity operations, and secure computational workloads for government agencies. The European company will also collaborate with Saudi digital authorities to implement advanced digital identity and citizen service platforms.
Human capital development is a central pillar of the partnership. D-AI will work closely with Saudi ministries, digital agencies, and institutional partners to train and mentor a new generation of local engineers, policymakers, and technology leaders to helm these new initiatives.
Part of a Broader AI Ambition
This partnership is the latest in a series of major investments by the Kingdom to become a global leader in artificial intelligence. By building out its AI compute capacity for both local and global use, Saudi Arabia is leveraging its unique access to capital, energy, and real estate.
In the past month alone, the Kingdom has announced significant AI infrastructure initiatives and investments with global tech giants including AMD, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cisco, DataVolt, Magna AI, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and xAI, signaling its determination to build gigawatts of compute capacity and diversify its economy beyond hydrocarbons.
About D-AI
D-AI is a London-headquartered company specializing in designing and deploying national-scale data centers, cloud systems, and AI platforms for governments and enterprises. It partners with organizations worldwide to deliver secure, sovereign digital infrastructure while simultaneously building local technical capacity and leadership.
About Public Investment Fund (PIF)
The Public Investment Fund is Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and a key driver of the Kingdom’s economic diversification under Vision 2030. Since 2017, PIF has established 103 companies, enabling the creation of key sectors and opportunities that shape the global economy. It actively partners with pioneering organizations worldwide to accelerate growth and facilitate the transfer of technology and knowledge.
Source: Middle East AI News
