Neom, Saudi Arabia’s futuristic megacity being built on the Red Sea coast, has secured a $5 billion investment from DataVolt, a local company, to establish an AI data center. This funding will support the first phase of the project, which is set to be operational by 2028. The data center will be located in Oxagon, an industrial hub within Neom, with a capacity of 1.5 gigawatts.
Neom is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s ambitious plan to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy beyond oil. The megacity is expected to consist of multiple regions, including a floating port and luxury tourist destinations.
Despite facing some funding challenges, Neom recently received a $3 billion loan from the Italian state financial group Sace to continue its construction and development. The partnership with DataVolt is expected to advance Saudi Arabia’s goal of establishing a global logistics hub at Neom and becoming a center for artificial intelligence.
The country has already launched AI research centers, ministries, and large-language models akin to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Additionally, Saudi Arabia is planning a new AI initiative with investments of up to $100 billion.
The announcement of the deal was made at the LEAP technology conference in Riyadh, with other major companies like Saudi Aramco, Salesforce, Qualcomm, and Groq also expressing interest in AI investments in the kingdom.
