Multimodal AI specialist Luma AI has announced the opening of a new regional office in Riyadh, marking a significant expansion into the Middle East. The move signals the growing importance of the Saudi market as a global hub for AI innovation and investment, attracting leading technology firms to its rapidly evolving ecosystem.
A Strategic Push into the Middle East
Luma AI’s new Riyadh office will serve as a base to support the development of localized AI solutions and engage with regional clients and partners. The company plans to build out local teams, hiring for roles across AI engineering, software development, marketing, and creative positions.
This on-the-ground presence will enable Luma AI to work closely with both government and private sector entities, aiming to produce creative content and video generated by AI models specifically trained on regional culture and Arabic data.
Collaboration with HUMAIN for Arabic-Native AI
A key driver for the expansion is Luma AI’s partnership with HUMAIN, the AI company owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). The collaboration, known as HUMAIN Create, aims to develop the world’s first Saudi-built, Arabic-native foundation model.
By combining Luma’s advanced video generation technology with HUMAIN’s Arabic-enabled models and AI infrastructure, the initiative will empower creators to produce culturally adapted creative content at an unprecedented scale, reflecting local language and context across Saudi Arabia and the wider MENA region.
Powering Creativity with Publicis Groupe
In a related strategic move, Luma AI has been named the preferred generative AI technology partner for Publicis Groupe Middle East. The global communications leader will integrate Luma’s generative video and multimodal AI technologies into its creative workflows for major brands across the region. This partnership is set to streamline production processes and unlock new possibilities for advertising and marketing campaigns.
Backed by Sovereign Capital and Compute Power
The expansion follows Luma AI’s $900 million Series C funding round, which was led by HUMAIN. The investment established Luma AI as a key customer for the compute capacity provided by HUMAIN’s joint venture with US chipmaker AMD.
This collaboration is supported by Project Halo, a large-scale 2GW AI supercluster under development in Saudi Arabia. Project Halo will provide the frontier training and inference capacity necessary to power next-generation generative AI applications, validating the Kingdom’s strategy of aligning capital, sovereign-scale compute, and leading model developers to build a world-class AI infrastructure.
About Luma AI
Luma AI is a startup at the forefront of AI entertainment and creative content generation. Its flagship platform, Dream Machine, enables users to create professional-grade videos and images. The company’s models are utilized by leading entertainment studios, advertising agencies, and technology partners globally for creative production applications.
Source: Jawlah
