Qualcomm (QCOM, Financial) announced its entry into the artificial intelligence (AI) data center market through a strategic partnership with Saudi-backed AI startup Humain. This collaboration, part of Saudi Arabia’s national AI development strategy led by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), involves building next-generation AI data centers in Saudi Arabia. These centers will offer hybrid AI inference services from cloud to edge, aimed at providing scalable and efficient AI solutions for local and global businesses.
Qualcomm will equip Humain's data centers with state-of-the-art data center CPUs and AI chip solutions, leveraging Snapdragon and Dragonwing processor technologies. This initiative is set to enhance data center performance and energy efficiency. Additionally, Qualcomm plans to establish a "Qualcomm Design Center" in Saudi Arabia, focusing on semiconductor design and local talent development to bolster the nation's AI technology industry chain.
This move underscores Qualcomm's determination to re-enter the server CPU market, following its acquisition of Arm-focused startup Nuvia. As Qualcomm advances its data center CPU strategy, NVIDIA (NVDA) also announced plans to export 18,000 AI GPUs to Saudi Arabia for a significant AI super data center project.
