LEAP 2026 sees over $15B in launches, investments

LEAP 2026 kicked off in Riyadh with major announcements spanning AI infrastructure, data centers, cloud services and accelerated computing.

The fifth edition of LEAP 2026, which kicked off in Riyadh on Aug. 31, registered launches, investments and partnerships worth more than $15 billion in artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced technologies, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Minister of Communications & Information Technology Abdullah Alswaha said the launches and investments come with the support and empowerment of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, noting that the Kingdom is moving toward leading the AI era in partnership with major global companies, innovators and investors.

The Public Investment Fund-owned HUMAIN led the conference announcements with a package of global launches, investments and partnerships to develop data centers, AI infrastructure, accelerated computing and cloud services.

HUMAIN and AMD announced the expansion of their partnership to develop the first phase of AI infrastructure with a capacity of 250 megawatts (MW) over two to three years, starting with the deployment of an initial 25 MW, alongside the launch of the “AI in a Box” solution to enable organizations to deploy, operate and scale advanced AI infrastructure more efficiently.

HUMAIN also announced a collaboration with stc Group to establish HUMAIN-owned data centers in the Kingdom with an initial capacity of 250 MW, with phased expansion targeting up to 1 gigawatt (GW) of computing capacity.

In addition, HUMAIN and Microsoft announced the expansion of their strategic partnership to offer “HUMAIN ONE” and “Microsoft 365 Copilot” as an integrated offering for enterprise customers and the launch of the “HUMAIN AI PC” running on the “Microsoft Windows” operating system.

In the data center sector, HUMAIN and DataVolt announced a collaboration to develop 100 MW as part of an AI data center project in NEOM’s Oxagon, with a total capacity of 360 MW, alongside the start of construction on the project.

HUMAIN and Together AI will collaborate to provide 55 MW of AI capacity and establish a new data center in the Kingdom with a capacity of up to 250 MW to support the expansion of cloud services and advanced AI applications.

In accelerated computing, HUMAIN launched an AI cloud in the Kingdom powered by the “NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra” platform and began operating its local accelerated computing infrastructure to support AI applications for government entities and companies in the Kingdom.

The Saudi AI company and AWS announced enhancing collaboration to provide up to 50 MW of capacity within the AI Zone by 2028, make “HUMAIN Fabric” available to AWS customers and offer the “ALLaM” model through “Amazon Bedrock.”

In the energy and industrial sectors, HUMAIN and SLB announced a partnership to develop an advanced AI ecosystem that supports complex operations at scale, combining “HUMAIN Fabric,” SLB’s energy-sector expertise, the “Lumi Data & AI” platform, and agentic capabilities.