Aramco Digital and artificial intelligence startups Groq announced plans toSaudi ArabiaBuilding the world's largest AI inference data center. The partnership, announced at the Global AI Summit 2024, marks an important step in Saudi Arabia's efforts to become a global center for AI.
The facility, which will be operational by the end of the year, will initially house 19,000 Groq language processing units and will eventually expand to 200,000. Tareq Amin, CEO of Aramco Digital, said the center will provide AI computing power in a flexible "as-a-service" model through the company's nawat marketplace.
Groq CEO Jonathan Ross emphasized the scale of the project, "By the end of 2024, the facility will be processing billions of tokens per day, expanding to hundreds of billions by 2025." This capacity could initially support hundreds of thousands of developers, possibly reaching millions within a year.
The partnership is in line with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 economic diversification program. Ross said Saudi Aramco Digital, a subsidiary of the state-owned oil giant, is funding the project at a cost of "around nine figures".
Groq's decision to establish its regional headquarters in Riyadh further solidifies Saudi Arabia's AI ambitions. Ross cited the country's strategic location and lower energy costs as key advantages in serving markets in the Middle East, Africa and India.
While U.S. restrictions on the export of advanced AI chips have affected a number of countries, Ross said Groq did not anticipate such restrictions, citing open communications with the U.S. Department of Commerce.