Heumann and DataVolt launch development of 100 megawatts in Oxagon, AI computing in Neom heads toward operation in 2028
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Human, a company owned by the Public Investment Fund and specialized in delivering integrated AI capabilities globally, and Saudi DataVolt announced the expansion of their partnership at the LEB conference to develop 100 megawatts as part of the first phase of an AI-dedicated data centre in the industrial city of Oxagon on the Red Sea coast in Neom.
The project represents part of the first phase, which totals 360 megawatts, within the data-centre complex that DataVolt plans to build in Oxagon with a total capacity of up to 1.5 gigawatts. It is expected that the initial 100-megawatt capacity will be ready for service by 2028, coinciding with the completion of the first operational stage of the digital complex.
The technical bet at the Oxagon facility rests on integrating renewable energy sources with innovative cooling technologies and high-performance computing clusters.The facility has been designed to handle the complex workloads of artificial intelligence and large-scale cloud computing, serving a broad spectrum of local and international customers, while leveraging the industrial readiness and pre-allocated spaces in the coastal zone.
Tariq Amin, chief executive of Heumann, believes that ambition in artificial intelligence only gains real value when it is translated into tangible infrastructure and computing capacity that customers can use in their applications. For his part, Rajit Nanda, chief executive of DataVolt, affirmed that building digital infrastructure at this scale goes beyond merely providing capital and theoretical capacity; it requires precise discipline in execution, starting from power networks and engineering and extending through construction and actual operation.
From a geographic and logistical perspective, Engineer Ayman Al-Madifer, managing partner and chief executive of Neom, explained that the project benefits from the direct advantages of Oxagon’s infrastructure, including pre-segmented industrial land, expanded energy resources, and the ability to access low-latency computing via a submarine cable network extending toward European and African markets.
This shift carries practical implications for technology managers and engineering teams in Saudi Arabia and the region. Setting 2028 as the target date for these capacities to enter service gives technical decision-makers in financial institutions and digital service firms a clear timeline to develop their inference and training plans locally, rather than relying exclusively on external infrastructure where response times increase or data residency is constrained. Moreover, linking cloud capacity to renewable energy sources and advanced cooling opens the way for organisations to run large models with more stable operating costs and environmental efficiency that align with future compliance requirements.
The move from announcing plans to installing compute capacity on the ground reshapes the investment and technology landscape in the region.As the construction phases of the first 100 megawatts progress toward 2028 readiness, the contours of the digital map linking cooling and power chains to hyperscale computing centres become clearer, giving smart-system developers infrastructure options that are geographically closer and better equipped to handle massive data flows.