Neom, Saudi Arabia’s Dystopian Desert Metropolis Challenge, Publicizes $5 Billion AI Information Heart

They are saying data is the new oil. If that’s the case, it makes complete sense that the oil kings of the final century are attempting to change into the information kings of this one. That’s a longwinded method of claiming Saudi Arabia (the aforementioned oil kings) have introduced a brand new multi-billion greenback AI information middle undertaking. The undertaking is alleged to be a part of Neom, the ridiculously costly, multi-trillion greenback city improvement effort primarily based alongside the Saudi Arabian coast.

On Tuesday, the deal between Neom (a personal firm owned by the nation’s Public Funding Fund) and a sustainable information middle developer named DataVolt was introduced via press release. Neom known as the $5 billion deal a “landmark settlement, marking a major step towards realizing the Kingdom’s imaginative and prescient for a sustainable, data-driven economic system.” Listening to Saudi Arabia discuss “sustainability” is just about the weirdest factor ever, however right here we’re. Supposedly, this deal goes to usher in new “power environment friendly” strategies of knowledge consumption. You’ll excuse me if I don’t maintain my breath on that one.

The brand new information middle will allegedly be in-built Neom’s “Oxagon” region, a “floating” industrial port metropolis that’s being constructed alongside the Pink Coastline. The manufacturing unit will “combine a variety of computing densities and energy-efficient architectures to deal with the worldwide challenges posed by conventional information facilities,” the press launch claims.

“This settlement with NEOM and Oxagon underscores our unwavering dedication to assist the Kingdom’s imaginative and prescient of changing into a regional digital and AI hub,” stated Rajit Nanda, CEO of DataVolt. “The Kingdom’s strategic location, coupled with its plentiful inexperienced power sources, aligns completely with DataVolt’s mission in offering state-of-the-art sustainable information facilities.”

The deal illustrates the Saudis’ curiosity in changing into a bedrock investor within the synthetic intelligence trade. The Saudis have fostered connections with lots of America’s prime AI corporations and, final 12 months, the Kingdom additionally introduced a brand new $40 billion fund to channel cash into varied AI tasks. The Saudis shut good friend and neighbor, the United Arab Emirates, are additionally recognized for being one of many largest donors to Stargate, the not too long ago introduced Silicon Valley undertaking to assemble AI information facilities all through the U.S.

As a undertaking, Neom hasn’t in any other case been going that nice. Regardless of the titanic ambitions that initially characterised the city-building effort, the Saudis have perpetually needed to scale back their plans—to the purpose the place it has typically appeared uncertain that undertaking as initially envisioned will ever really be completed. In November, Neom’s longtime CEO stepped away from the project without explanation.

Like different issues related to Saudi Arabia, Neom would additionally seem like a little bit of a human rights nightmare. A report from the British public broadcaster ITV not too long ago claimed that some 21,000 migrant building staff had died in Saudi Arabia since 2017, when the nation’s Saudi Imaginative and prescient 2030 effort (of which Neom is a large half) started. Human Rights Watch has also reported that the Kingdom’s empire-building tasks are constructed on “widespread labor abuses.” The Saudis have called reports of the vast death toll surrounding Neom “misinformation.”