KATHMANDU: Saudi oil company Aramco said on Sunday that it has acquired a 49 percent stake in state-owned AI company Humane. The company has been given both cash and assets to expand to meet the growing demand.

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), will hold the remaining 51 percent of the shares. Both sides have issued a joint statement confirming the share expansion.

Aramco, the mainstay of the oil-dependent Saudi economy, had been planning to take a significant stake in Humen for at least a year starting in May 2025.

“This transaction will further accelerate Human’s growth and advance its full AI capabilities globally. PIF and Aramco will contribute to the state-funded AI company’s wealth, capabilities and talents,” the statement said.

“The shares, which will be acquired through a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aramco, will support Human’s rapid expansion to meet the growing regional and global demand for AI,” the statement said. ”

Humen plans to have 3 gigawatts of AI data center capacity by 2030. “It is also working on infrastructure and cloud platforms and has developed an Arabic-language LLM,” the statement said.

Aramco, one of the world’s largest market capitalizations, will invest about 9.9 billion Saudi riyals ($2.6 billion) in Humen this year. It will also provide AI, computer networks and digital assets. Aramco’s President and CEO Amin H. Nasser said AI has helped the oil company collect $11.3 billion worth of technology-related value from 2023.