Complete infrastructure from data centres to 'Alam': the path of computing export after the energy and investment partnership
The AI war in the region is moving from merely adopting ready-made applications to owning the full layers of infrastructure, from servers to advanced generative models. In this context, Saudi Aramco announced its acquisition of a 49 percent stake in Hiomain, an AI technology specialist, through one of its subsidiaries, in a deal worth 2.6 billion dollars. The Saudi Public Investment Fund retains the remaining 51 percent, turning the startup launched in May 2025 into a joint platform that combines the two parties’ investment capabilities, digital assets, and technical expertise, in a step aimed at accelerating its growth and building a fully integrated system capable of competing globally.
The deal includes cash contributions from Aramco amounting to about 9.9 billion Saudi riyals (2.6 billion dollars) in 2026, in addition to computing, data, and digital capabilities assets.Hiomain’s business model is based on developing an AI ecosystem across four main tracks: building next-generation data centres, high-performance and cloud computing platforms, developing advanced models, and foremost the Arabic multimodal language model ‘Alam’, as well as providing application-oriented solutions for economic sectors. The company aims to deploy computing capacities of up to 3 GW in AI data centres by 2030 to meet regional and international demand and transform into a major export hub for computing capabilities worldwide.
The partnership reflects a carefully considered intersection between energy and economic diversification strategies; from the Public Investment Fund’s side, this investment aligns with its 2026-2030 strategic plan, which focuses on deepening integration between economic systems, expanding private sector participation, and enabling national companies to become internationally leading entities. Yazeed Al-Hamied, deputy governor of the Fund and head of its General Management for Middle East and North Africa, explained that bringing the Fund’s and Aramco’s two investment portfolios under Hiomain creates integration that enhances talent growth, intellectual property development, and supports AI as an enabler for the Fund’s six systems. In turn, the alliance allows Aramco to translate digital infrastructure into advanced industrial applications that support its core energy and chemicals operations; Ammar Al-Nasir, Aramco’s chief executive and senior executive, stated that since 2023 the company has achieved a realized technical value of 11.3 billion dollars, a core part of which came through AI solutions.
This concentration in infrastructure imposes a tangible shift on technology leaders and system engineering teams in the Gulf and surrounding region.Injecting this liquidity and building local computing power of up to 3 GW gradually reduces exclusive reliance on global cloud providers outside the borders, redraws options for hosting sensitive data, and trains enterprise models within the region. For companies in the Gulf, Egypt, and the Levant, this expansion means closer specialised computing services, reduced response times, and an operational environment that supports leading Arabic models and localises technical value chains. It requires local engineering and development teams to upgrade their skills in linking industrial systems to large-scale AI models and hedging against regional competition that relies on high-performance computing capabilities difficult to match with traditional solutions.
The real bet for the next phase remains tied to the partners’ ability to translate these massive investments into operational efficiency that helps liquidate existing digital assets and supports rapid expansion into international markets. Moving from individual model development to owning the entire technical supply chain is a practical test of ambitions to export smart processing globally. With financing stages completed in 2026, regional markets will monitor how successfully this entity establishes new standards for digital infrastructure and offers a model to emulate in collaboration between energy giants and sovereign funds to lead the future of advanced computing.