Nvidia’s partnership with PIF-backed Humain to build a 500 MW AI facility on Saudi soil drew the foreign press’ attention to US policy shift on AI. Reuters portrayed the move as the Trump administration’s reversal of the Biden-era AI restrictions, granting the Kingdom greater access to US chips.

The Kingdom’s access to US AI microchips was limited under Biden’s AI diffusion rules, which was labelled as misguided by Trump’s administration, as there was no risk of sharing this technology with a “friend like Saudi Arabia” as AI czar David Sacks put it at the Saudi-US Investment Forum. The logic behind the policy shift is to keep interested buyers away from Chinese chips — which proved to challenge US chips under restriction-induced development.

The newswire flagged up the catch to this policy change, with US pressuring nations like Saudi Arabia to avoid Chinese AI technology. The Bureau of Industry and Security deemed the use of Huawei’s Ascend chips a violation of US export controls, aiming to boost US tech and limit China’s AI growth. The practical enforcement of this global restriction on Chinese chips remains to be seen.

BUT- Bloomberg alluded to the Kingdom potentially facing risks of underused AI infrastructure, mirroring past challenges in China. The centralized, top-down approach via Humain in developing AI services faces hurdles, chief among them is the shortage of local scientists, entrepreneurs, and skilled AI talent — alongside limited deep-tech expertise compared to global hubs, the business news service argued.

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