Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is in early talks to lease data centre capacity in Saudi Arabia, as it hunts for energy-rich regions with capital depth and geopolitical alignment to scale its compute infrastructure, according to Bloomberg.
The company is evaluating two distinct partners in the Kingdom. One is HUMAIN, a Saudi-backed AI firm offering xAI access to several gigawatts of future data centre capacity — potentially among the largest globally. The other is a second, unnamed partner currently developing a 200-megawatt facility that could come online much sooner. While the HUMAIN proposal is massive in ambition, it remains years away from delivering usable capacity, with much of the infrastructure still unbuilt. By contrast, the unnamed smaller partner’s facility is already under construction and viewed as a more viable near-term option.
Saudi Arabia’s pitch is attractive: access to cheap power, massive public capital, and growing alignment between the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth vehicles and frontier technology firms. Inside HUMAIN, technical development is being led by Jeff Thomas, while commercial negotiations are overseen by Saeed Al-Dobas. The company is backed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), and insiders say the deal could link back to earlier Saudi investments in xAI, part of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s wider effort to deepen ties with Musk-led ventures.
The talks come amid xAI’s aggressive global buildout. The company recently raised $10 billion — half equity, half debt — and is sitting on what Musk has called “plenty of capital.” A massive data center in Memphis is already live, home to the company’s flagship Colossus supercomputer, with a second facility likely to follow. But U.S. infrastructure buildouts are increasingly constrained by power availability, regulation, and political uncertainty. Musk’s recent tensions with lawmakers — despite his proximity to Donald Trump’s inner circle — have pushed xAI to explore more favorable jurisdictions abroad.
Former Tesla executive Ross Nordeen is leading global infrastructure negotiations for xAI, effectively serving as the company’s dealmaker-in-chief, similar to the role Omead Afshar once played for Musk at Tesla. Andree Jacobson, another Musk veteran, is guiding the technical side. In parallel to Saudi Arabia, the team is also exploring capacity deals in the UAE, including talks with G42, as well as in select African countries offering low-cost energy.
Still, insiders say Saudi Arabia remains the most compelling option — not just for its capital or power access, but because it offers what no one else can right now: sovereign alignment, hyperscale ambitions, and a political calculus that tilts in Musk’s favour.
