Hamartia Antidote
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Musk’s xAI in Talks With Saudi’s Humain on Data Center Deal
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is in discussions to lease data center capacity in Saudi Arabia, according to people familiar with the matter, part of an effort to expand its infrastructure in regions offering cheap energy and political goodwill.
The company is in early talks with two potential partners: Humain, a Saudi-backed artificial intelligence firm offering xAI several gigawatts of capacity, and another company building a smaller but more immediately available 200-megawatt facility, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private talks.
The Humain proposal, while massive in ambition, remains distant. While the AI company is backed by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund, the firm has yet to break ground on much of the infrastructure it’s pledged to build. Any arrangement with xAI would offer Musk computing resources years down the road instead of being a near-term solution.
By contrast, the other potential partner is already working on a 200-megawatt facility, one of the people said, making it a more realistic short-term option for xAI. In both cases, xAI would not own the facilities but instead rent capacity — essentially leasing space in the data centers to power its compute-intensive AI models.
