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MIAMI (Reuters) – The head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) on Thursday touted the kingdom as a future hub for artificial intelligence activities outside the United States, citing its energy resources and financing capabilities.
“We are well-positioned to become an AI hub outside the United States,” PIF President Yasir Al-Rumayyan said, speaking at a sovereign wealth fund investment event in Miami.
“AI consumes a lot of energy, and we are world leaders when it comes to fossil fuel energy and renewable energy,” he said.
Rumayyan said Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer, also has the “political will” to make AI projects a reality and has deep pockets to deploy to accelerate technology development.
His comments suggest the data center could be central to Riyadh’s strategy to capitalize on burgeoning demand for generative AI technologies that require vast amounts of processing power.
AI technology uses clusters of thousands of chips in large data centers to train algorithms to complete tasks. Electricity bills are rising for tech companies as they race to build increasingly sophisticated AI models and deploy generation products to billions of users.
Rumayyan said PIF allocates more than 70% of its funds to domestic projects and investments in Saudi Arabia, and aims to allocate 20% to 25% internationally. About 40% of the fund’s international investments were in the United States.
He said the PIF deploys about $40 billion to $50 billion a year, which is expected to increase to $70 billion a year between 2025 and 2030.
(Reporting by Katie Paul; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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