A USD 3 bn data centers push: Humain inked a long-term partnership with Australia’s AirTrunk, backed by Blackstone and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, to build and operate next-generation data centers in the Kingdom with an initial USD 3 bn investment, Blackstone said in a statement. Humain will lead the work on infrastructure and AI capabilities, while AirTrunk brings global expertise in data center development and operations, the statement said.

Just the beginning? The partnership may expand to include more players eventually, such as BlackRock, KKR, and DigitalBridge, CEO Tareq Amin told Bloomberg.

ALSO- Humain is already talking IPO and lining up investors: Humain could go public via a dual listing on Tadawul and the US’s Nasdaq within the next three to four years, Amin said. The CEO also hinted at a potential investment from one of Humain’s AI chip suppliers — which include Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, and Groq.

.. and Aramco wants a piece: The PIF and Aramco signed a non-binding term sheet yesterday for the latter to acquire a significant minority stake in Humain. The acquisition’s aim is “to combine the two entities’ AI assets and expertise under Humain to accelerate its global growth,” a statement from Aramco said, without disclosing financial details.

IN OTHER DATA CENTERS UPDATES-

Cisco, G42 partner on AI infrastructure: Digital communications tech conglomerate Cisco and state AI firm G42 have expanded their partnership to integrate Cisco’s full-stack of AI infrastructure, including its compute, networking, and analytics tools, with one of G42’s large-scale AI clusters, according to a press release. The cluster will include AMD’s MI350X GPUs.

ICYMI- Cisco and G42 signed an agreement in May to collaborate on AI infrastructure, as well as encourage public and private sector adoption. Cisco is also one of the firms working alongside Nvidia, OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank on the Stargate UAE 1 GW cluster.

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