Cisco has been named as a partner on Humain's large AI data center buildout.

Humain launched this week with Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth funding, and announced major deals with Nvidia, AMD, AWS, Qualcomm, and Groq.

As part of that, networking and security business Cisco will be involved in the data center projects - although how and to what scale is unclear.

Cisco will also fund the Cisco AI Institute at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), upskill up to 500,000 locals, and work with the sponsors of Riyadh Expo 2030 and the 2034 World Cup.

“AI can unlock groundbreaking opportunities for economic growth and innovation, accelerating KSA’s Vision 2030,” said Chuck Robbins, Cisco chair and CEO.

“Today marks a new milestone in more than 25 years of partnership with the Kingdom. Together, we are embracing the future and empowering organizations across the public and private sectors to harness the potential of AI and be at the forefront of this revolution.”

Alongside the nebulous deal, Cisco said that it was extending its existing partnership with G42 to help deploy AI systems in the United Arab Emirates.