Humain scales up 2027 data center target as it aims for a self-funding buildout

Humain is targeting 1.7 GW of data center capacity in 2027, CEO Tareq Amin tells EnterpriseAM. That’s a bigger number than was on the board last month, when its 250 MW build with Al Moammar Information Systems was described as scalable to 1 GW. That 250 MW is still due online by the end of this year.

The PIF-backed AI company puts the cost of building AI data center capacity at USD 10-12 mn per MW, which would put next year’s build in the region of USD 20 bn, though Amin gave no budget figure. “Almost 80% of my capital is going to the data centers,” Amin tells us.

Paying for it all: Humain’s domestic data center fund is going through regulatory approval, Amin says. The vehicle is seeking an initial USD 2.5 bn to finance its first phase of capacity, with room to scale further. BSF Capital is managing the debt-and-equity structure, as we previously reported. “When you have bankable off-take deals, raising capital for me is not an issue,” Amin says. “I try to minimize as much as possible my shareholder capital allocation.”

The playbook: Humain is effectively trying to make the AI buildout pay for itself as it scales — lock in global customers first, use those contracts to raise debt and attract outside investors, then deploy the capital into the infrastructure those customers need. That fits with Amin’s broader goal of shifting Humain away from relying heavily on its shareholders.

The build only gets bigger from here: Humain is targeting roughly 3 GW by 2030 and 6 GW by 2034, turning what is now a relatively small Saudi data-center market into the base for a much larger AI-compute business. But Amin says the company won’t build ahead of demand. “This is a balancing act between [building and securing] demand, especially around AI factories.”

The export play

The customers increasingly sit outside Saudi Arabia. Humain has signed up xAI and Amazon Web Services, Amin says, alongside several open-weight model companies. The aim is to have global tech companies run workloads in Saudi Arabia and sell that compute back out. “Global off-takers [are] coming to Saudi to really export AI tokens to the rest of the world,” he says.

A separate compute-infrastructure fund will finance the GPUs and other IT equipment inside the data centers. Amin didn’t disclose its size. “The data center build is a fraction of the cost,” Amin says. “The IT equipment, including the GPU, is where most of the capital is [going].” The fund would aim to make compute an investable asset class open to outside investors.

Two VC vehicles: Humain’s previously announced global AI fund, originally planned at USD 10 bn, will back AI-native companies internationally that fit its business. A second, Humain Limitless, will target Saudi AI companies and will launch at the Future Investment Initiative. Amin declined to give a size for either.