Saudi Arabia: On the road to become the world’s biggest investor in AI
Riyadh, 26th March 2024: The post-oil economy has given rise to a plethora of next-gen tech initiatives in the Kingdom. While futuristic smart cities and evolving datacentres are just to name a few, the government’s plan to invest $40 billion in AI has been turning heads worldwide.
The projected investment fund is considered to be an outcome of the potential partnership between Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Andreessen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital firms.
While the above would not only establish the Kingdom as the world’s largest investor in AI but also project its global business ambitions. Growing to be a more influential player in geopolitics, Saudi is getting huge support from its sovereign wealth fund which has assets worth $900 billion.
Speculated to take off during H2 2024, the $40 billion fund holds the potential of making both the Kingdom’s government and Andreessen Horowitz the key players in the country’s AI race. It is anticipated that the massive fund would diminish the impact of other amounts raised by U.S. venture capital firms and would leave only one formidable opponent in the form of SoftBank, the current largest investor in start-ups.
The Silicon Valley firm might soon have an office in the country’s capital, Riyadh as its co-founder Ben Horowitz and Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Public Investment Fund are discussing possibilities regarding the same.
Also, considering the motivated drive for AI in general, it’s quite evident that the bullish investors are vying to discover the possibilities of the next Nvidia or OpenAI.
While AI summits in Saudi are gathering momentum, the country’s foremost event in the sector, Smart Data & AI Summit is scheduled to go live on 27 – 28 May 2024 at JW Marriott Hotel Riyadh.