Elon Musk and Jensen Huang Headline U.S.–Saudi AI Forum as xAI and Humain Plot Massive Saudi Data Centers

WASHINGTON, D.C. — November 19, 2025. Tesla and xAI chief Elon Musk and Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang took center stage at the U.S.–Saudi Investment Forum in Washington today, using a high‑profile AI panel to frame Saudi Arabia as a future “compute superpower” and showcase a wave of new mega‑deals spanning chips, data centers and sovereign AI infrastructure. ^[1]

Their appearance comes as Musk’s AI startup xAI is reportedly closing in on a $15 billion funding round at a $230 billion valuation and planning a 500‑megawatt data center in Saudi Arabia, while AMD, Cisco and Saudi AI company Humain announced a new joint venture to build up to 1 gigawatt of AI data center capacity across the Middle East and beyond. ^[2]

Key takeaways

Musk and Huang headlined an AI panel at the U.S.–Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center in Washington, moderated by Saudi communications minister Abdullah Alswaha. ^[3]
Saudi Arabia is pitching itself as a low‑cost AI compute hub, backed by the sovereign wealth fund and a new national AI champion, Humain, which aims to make the kingdom the world’s third‑largest AI infrastructure provider. ^[4]
xAI is in advanced talks to raise about $15 billion at a $230 billion valuation, according to Wall Street Journal reporting relayed by TipRanks, alongside plans for a 500 MW Saudi data center. ^[5]
AMD, Cisco and Humain launched an AI data‑center joint venture, starting with a 100 MW facility in Saudi Arabia whose entire initial capacity is contracted to generative‑video startup Luma AI; the partners target 1 GW of capacity by 2030. ^[6]
The forum is also a political and reputational reset for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, on his first U.S. trip since 2018, as he and President Donald Trump tout “billions” in new U.S.–Saudi investments. ^[7]

Inside the U.S.–Saudi Investment Forum in Washington

The U.S.–Saudi Investment Forum 2025 is being held today at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts under the slogan “Leadership for Growth: Strengthening the Saudi‑U.S. Economic Partnership.” The official program spans AI and emerging tech, clean energy, finance, logistics, mining, tourism and more, with ministerial dialogues and CEO‑level panels throughout the day. ^[8]

According to the event agenda and reporting from Reuters, the guest list reads like a who’s who of Corporate America:

CEOs or senior executives from Chevron, Palantir, Aramco, Qualcomm, Cisco, Adobe, General Dynamics, Pfizer, Boeing, IBM, Google, Salesforce, State Street, Blackstone, Lockheed Martin and others are in Washington for the forum. ^[9]
Trump is slated to address attendees, while Saudi ministers pitch the kingdom as a partner on energy transition, digital infrastructure and industrial diversification. ^[10]

The event follows a candlelit White House dinner on Tuesday night, where Trump hosted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Musk, Huang and other executives in a carefully staged show of rapprochement and deal‑making. ^[11]

Musk and Huang’s AI message: compute crunch vs. innovation boom

On the AI panel itself, Musk and Huang offered two distinct but complementary views of where artificial intelligence is headed.

Musk: compute and energy are the new chokepoints

In a recap of the session, StartupHub.ai describes Musk hammering on a now‑familiar theme: compute capacity is the primary bottleneck for frontier AI, and power generation is fast becoming the next one. ^[12]

Musk argued that today’s limiting factor is not money or talent but access to advanced chips and the data‑center infrastructure to run them at scale.
He warned that as models grow, electricity supply itself could constrain progress, implying that nations able to offer cheap land and power will gain outsized leverage in the AI race — a clear nod to Saudi Arabia’s ambitions. ^[13]

Musk has been pushing this message for months while ramping up xAI’s hardware footprint, including plans for massive GPU clusters in the U.S. and now the Gulf. ^[14]

Huang: a “renaissance of computing”

Huang, whose Nvidia chips currently dominate the AI accelerator market, struck a more optimistic tone. He acknowledged surging demand for compute but emphasized that rapid improvements in chip architecture and software are sharply reducing the effective cost of AI workloads over time. ^[15]

In his framing, we are in a “renaissance of computing” where each new hardware generation, paired with better compilers and frameworks, brings more capability per watt and per dollar. That, he suggested, will gradually democratize access to powerful AI instead of concentrating it solely in the hands of cash‑rich tech titans and petrostates. ^[16]

Where Musk leaned toward existential risks and AGI, reiterating that AI could become the most consequential technology in human history and calling again for regulation, Huang kept his focus on near‑term productivity gains and scientific advances in fields like healthcare, manufacturing and design. ^[17]

xAI: from mega‑fundraise to Saudi megadata center

While the stage conversation grabbed headlines, the most material Musk news sits behind the scenes: capital raises and concrete infrastructure.

$15 billion for xAI at a sky‑high valuation

TipRanks, citing a Wall Street Journal report, says xAI is in advanced talks to raise about $15 billion in new equity, valuing the company around $230 billion — more than double an earlier valuation disclosed after xAI’s acquisition of the social platform X in March. ^[18]

The terms were reportedly outlined to investors by Musk’s long‑time wealth manager Jared Birchall.
Musk has floated the idea of Tesla investing in xAI, a proposal that has divided Tesla shareholders worried about conflicts of interest and capital allocation. ^[19]

Even by today’s frothy AI standards, a $230 billion private valuation would cement xAI as one of the most richly valued AI players in the world, rivaling or surpassing many publicly listed chip and cloud giants.

A 500 MW Saudi data center

Bloomberg reports that Musk told the forum xAI plans to develop a 500‑megawatt data center in Saudi Arabia in partnership with the kingdom, leveraging the country’s cheap energy and available land. ^[20]

While details are still sparse, a facility of that scale would:

Rank among the largest single AI data centers announced globally to date.
Fit neatly into Saudi Arabia’s pitch to become a low‑cost “compute zone” for U.S. tech firms constrained by power, permitting and geopolitical issues at home. ^[21]

It also dovetails with reporting that Humain — Saudi Arabia’s sovereign‑wealth‑fund‑backed AI company — is preparing multi‑gigawatt data‑center build‑outs with partners including Amazon, AMD, xAI and GlobalAI, contingent on U.S. approval for large AI‑chip exports. ^[22]

AMD, Cisco and Humain: a new AI‑infrastructure power trio

In a separate but related announcement, AMD, Cisco Systems and Humain unveiled a new joint venture to build AI‑centric data centers across the Middle East and surrounding regions. ^[23]

Key details from executives speaking to Reuters:

The JV’s first project is a 100 MW data center in Saudi Arabia, whose entire initial capacity has already been contracted by generative‑video startup Luma AI — underscoring how quickly AI workloads are absorbing large blocks of compute.
AMD and Cisco will be minority equity holders, sharing in profits and losses, while Humain leads on local execution and relationships.
The partners aim to build up to 1 gigawatt of data‑center capacity by 2030 across Saudi Arabia, the wider Middle East, India, Africa, Europe and parts of Asia, targeting a market of roughly 4.5 billion people.
AMD will supply its latest MI450 AI accelerators, while Cisco provides networking gear and will lean on its global salesforce to help fill the centers. ^[24]

For AMD, the JV is a concrete extension of a $10 billion collaboration with Humain announced during Trump’s visit to Riyadh in May, which included major purchases of AMD AI chips. For Cisco, it’s a beachhead into sovereign AI infrastructure build‑outs that could drive future networking demand. ^[25]

Saudi Arabia’s AI gambit: from oil power to compute power

Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 program, Saudi Arabia has been steadily recasting itself as more than just an oil exporter. AI is now a core part of that narrative.

According to Semafor and official materials:

Humain, established in May 2025 and owned by the Public Investment Fund, is designed as the kingdom’s flagship AI infrastructure company, with products ranging from data‑center services to Arabic‑centric large language models. ^[26]
The strategic goal, as articulated by Humain CEO Tareq Amin, is to make Saudi Arabia the world’s third‑largest provider of AI infrastructure, behind only the U.S. and China. ^[27]
Saudi officials are pitching the country as a low‑cost compute hub, citing abundant land, low‑priced power and the ability to fast‑track mega‑projects in a way that’s harder in the U.S. or Europe. ^[28]

Today’s forum in Washington gives that strategy a high‑visibility platform in front of top U.S. CEOs — and signals that the Trump administration is willing to loosen AI‑chip export constraints to a closely aligned Gulf ally, at least under specified “pre‑approved” uses. ^[29]

Market angle: Nvidia, Tesla, AMD and the AI trade

The optics of Huang and Musk appearing together with Saudi leaders also land at an important moment for markets:

Nvidia reports quarterly earnings after the close today, with analysts broadly expecting another strong print and several brokerages, including BNP Paribas Exane, recently raising price targets. ^[30]
Tesla shares have climbed back above $400, helped by Arizona’s approval of a ride‑hailing permit and optimism around Musk’s AI initiatives, including xAI’s prospective mega‑fundraise. TechStock²+1
AMD and Cisco are positioning themselves as key suppliers to a new wave of sovereign AI infrastructure, with today’s Humain JV giving AMD another marquee reference account for its MI‑series accelerators. ^[31]

Yahoo Finance highlighted the Washington meetings — along with the xAI funding reports and Target’s earnings — in a segment titled “Nvidia boss meeting Saudis, xAI raising funds, Target’s earnings,” reflecting how closely investors are watching the intersection of geopolitics, AI capex and chip demand. ^[32]

Nothing in this article is investment advice; investors should do their own research or consult a licensed adviser before making financial decisions.

Risks and unanswered questions

Despite the upbeat tone in Washington, several questions hang over the day’s announcements:

Human‑rights and reputational risk: This is Mohammed bin Salman’s first U.S. trip since the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, for which U.S. intelligence concluded he bore responsibility — a conclusion he has denied. Companies partnering closely with Saudi Arabia on AI may face scrutiny from shareholders and civil‑society groups. ^[33]
Export‑control complexity: Any large AI‑chip transfers to Saudi Arabia will be watched closely by regulators worried about re‑exports or leakage to other jurisdictions. The Semafor report suggests the U.S. may pre‑approve certain uses rather than grant carte blanche access. ^[34]
Execution risk on mega‑projects: Multi‑gigawatt data‑center plans, 500 MW AI campuses and 1 GW joint ventures are massive undertakings. Securing enough chips, building grid infrastructure and attracting reliable long‑term customers will be non‑trivial — especially if the global AI spending cycle cools. ^[35]

What to watch next

Over the coming days and months, several milestones will show how real today’s headlines are:

xAI’s fundraising filings – Confirmation of the $15 billion round and its terms, plus any cross‑investment by Tesla or other Musk companies. ^[36]
Regulatory clarity on U.S. AI‑chip exports to Saudi Arabia, especially around Nvidia and AMD accelerators destined for Humain and xAI‑linked facilities. ^[37]
Firm project timelines for the 500 MW xAI data center and the 100 MW Humain–AMD–Cisco site, including start of construction and projected go‑live dates. ^[38]
Follow‑on deals announced from today’s forum, particularly in cloud services, sovereign AI, and industrial AI deployments in energy, defense and healthcare. ^[39]

What’s clear already is that November 19, 2025 marks a pivot point: U.S. AI champions and Saudi policymakers are openly aligning around a shared vision in which the kingdom supplies land, power and capital, while American firms deliver chips, models and software — with Elon Musk and Jensen Huang as the marquee faces of that emerging compute alliance.