Elon Musk’s xAI is partnering with Humain to build a 500MW data center in Saudi Arabia.

It is hoped the data center will be the first of a network of facilities across the country. As part of the agreement, xAI’s Grok models will be deployed in Saudi Arabia.

A location for the first data center has not been revealed, but an announcement from the two firms said it will “become one of the most advanced AI compute hubs globally.”

Musk said: “The future of intelligence will be engineered through massive and efficient compute combined with the most advanced AI models. Humain’s capabilities enable us to build that future faster in Saudi Arabia. This collaboration represents the first of its kind partnership to deploy xAI’s Grok across an entire country.”

In July, reports surfaced that xAI and Humain could work together, though it was said at the time that xAI was looking to lease data center space in the Kingdom rather than build its own facility.

xAI already owns and operates a data center in Memphis, Tennessee, and is planning a second facility in the city. The Saudi project is its first outside the US.

News of the deal was announced at a US-Saudi Investment Forum, held in Washington DC this week. On Wednesday, it was reported that US President Donald Trump had approved shipments of US-made AI chips to Saudi Arabia for Humain to use in its data centers.

Formed in May, Humain is backed by PIF, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. It is aiming to deliver 6.6GW of data center capacity in Saudi Arabia over the next decade.

This week, it has also announced a joint venture with AMD and Cisco for the delivery of 1GW of data center capacity over the next five years.

It also received Washington's approval to buy up to 35,000 Nvidia GB300 systems or their equivalent after securing a deal with various chip companies six months ago.

Tareq Amin, CEO of Humain, said: “Together with xAI, we are creating scale that few others can match and speed that redefines what is possible, and compute that will shape the world’s most advanced technologies.”