Tareq Amin, CEO of Saudi Arabian AI startup Humain, is confident that the US will approve the sale of advanced chips to the country. This prediction follows the company’s detailed assurances to American officials. One of the key guarantees provided by Humain is that the company will not purchase equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies Co. In an interview at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Amin said: “In our case, I will never do that.” This assurance addresses years of restrictions imposed by the US government on China’s tech industry, including blacklisting firms such as Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. due to national security concerns. Amin, who was previously associated with Aramco Digital, said Humain aims to become the world’s third-largest computing capacity provider, after the US and China. However, its growth depends on access to advanced AI chips from American firms like Nvidia.Currently, Saudi Arabia faces US export restrictions on such chips, which require licenses from Washington. However, officials from both countries have been discussing an agreement to issue these permits while ensuring the technology remains secure from China.
Humain CEO Tareq Amin on tackling political hurdles
Amin said he had faced similar political challenges before at Rakuten Group Inc., where the company needed approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US. He mentioned that he has already shared Humain’s security plans with US officials.“All I could do, as CEO of a private entity, was to put together what I call the defence package to show the security apparatus of Humain. It is really remarkably different from anything else in this region,” Amin noted.He also talked about Humain’s partnerships with US tech companies. The firm has agreements with Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., and California-based startup Groq. Earlier this week, Humain announced it would be the first customer of Qualcomm Inc.’s new chips, which compete with Nvidia’s.According to Amin, all of these companies have applied for export licenses to sell their products in Saudi Arabia.Humain earlier said it plans to install around 18,000 chips in 2026. Amin called this the “first phase” and added that the company aims to deploy up to 400,000 AI chips by 2030.Amin said he is “extremely happy” with how talks between the US and Saudi Arabia on chip exports are going. He mentioned an upcoming visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who also serves as Humain’s chairman, to the US next month.“We’re not far away, You could derive a possible outcome in November,” Amin added.
