# Aramco Closes Its 49% Stake in Saudi AI Company HUMAIN, Putting In $2.6 Billion of Cash Plus Its AI Assets

Times of AI Desk · 2026-11-02 · Industry

[https://timesof.ai/2026/11/aramco-closes-49-percent-humain-stake-2-6b](https://timesof.ai/2026/11/aramco-closes-49-percent-humain-stake-2-6b)

> Saudi Aramco has completed the purchase of a 49% stake in HUMAIN, the AI company owned by the Public Investment Fund, which keeps 51%. Aramco is contributing about SAR 9.9 billion ($2.6 billion) in cash to HUMAIN in 2026 along with AI, compute and digital assets. HUMAIN is targeting 3 GW of AI data centre capacity by 2030. No valuation was disclosed.

Saudi Arabia's state oil company is now a co-owner of Saudi Arabia's national AI champion, and its cash goes into the company rather than to the seller. Aramco and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced on November 1 that Aramco, through a wholly owned subsidiary, has acquired a 49% stake in HUMAIN, with PIF keeping 51%. Aramco is contributing about SAR 9.9 billion ($2.6 billion) in cash to HUMAIN in 2026, in addition to AI, compute and digital assets, according to the joint statement.

## What closed

The deal formalises plans first set out in a non-binding term sheet that PIF and Aramco signed on October 28, 2025, to combine their AI assets, capabilities and talent under HUMAIN, Arab News reports.

HUMAIN launched in May 2025. The statement says it is building across four areas: data centres, high-performance infrastructure and cloud platforms, AI models including the Arabic-language ALLaM, and AI applications for business and government. It is targeting 3 GW of AI data centre capacity by 2030 and says it aims to become "one of the leading exporters of AI globally."

## What Aramco says it gets

Aramco expects to use HUMAIN's infrastructure to deploy AI across its industrial operations and to benefit from HUMAIN's services as a shareholder and strategic partner, the statement says. It also says the partnership is expected to enhance Aramco's "monetization of existing AI and digital assets," which suggests that part of Aramco's contribution is technology it already owns and now books as a stake.

"Since 2023, Aramco has achieved $11.3 billion in Technology Realized Value, with a significant portion coming from AI solutions," Aramco president and CEO Amin Nasser said. The statement does not define the measure. Yazeed Al-Humied, PIF's head of MENA investments, said combining the two portfolios would create "a powerful synergy."

## Customers before capacity

HUMAIN is already lining up international customers. On October 21, HUMAIN and DataVolt announced a preliminary agreement under which AI cloud company Nebius would take up to 50 MW at a planned campus in Neom's Oxagon, half of an initial 100 MW under construction, Arab News reports. Gulf money is also in play elsewhere in AI: SoftBank's Masayoshi Son has been [seeking up to $100 billion from Gulf investors](https://timesof.ai/2026/10/softbank-100b-gulf-fundraise-ai-acquisition-fund) for an AI-driven acquisition fund, the FT reported in October.

## Limits

- Neither company disclosed a valuation for HUMAIN or a value for the assets Aramco is transferring, so the price of the 49% stake cannot be calculated from the cash figure alone.
- "Technology Realized Value" is Aramco's own metric and is not defined in the statement.
- The Nebius arrangement is a preliminary framework agreement, not a signed contract.
- Arab News's report draws on the same joint statement and is not independent confirmation of the deal terms.

## Sources

- [Aramco: PIF and Aramco close HUMAIN transaction to accelerate HUMAIN's global growth (November 1, 2026)](https://www.aramco.com/en/news-media/news/2026/pif-and-aramco-close-humain-transaction-to-accelerate-humains-global-growth)
- [Arab News: Aramco closes $2.6bn deal for 49% stake in Humain (November 1, 2026)](https://www.arabnews.com/finance/aramco-closes-26bn-deal-for-49-stake-in-humain-3009220)