Caifeng News October 31st (Editor Zhou Ziyi) The Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia and Google Cloud announced on Wednesday (October 31) at the 8th Future Investment Initiative (FII8) the establishment of a strategic partnership to create a new global artificial intelligence (AI) center. The center will be located near Dammam in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

This partnership further promotes Saudi Arabia as a top AI destination for local and global businesses and startups, supporting the country's national goal of achieving a 50% growth in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry.

The collaboration will feature joint research on Arabic language models and Saudi-specific artificial intelligence applications, currently pending regulatory approval.

The new investment builds on Google Cloud's existing business foundation in Saudi Arabia, including the Dammam Cloud Region launched last year, which is part of Google Cloud's global network of 40 regions.

Arabic Language Model

Benefiting from Google Cloud's years of investment and leading position in the custom chip field, the high-performance, dedicated infrastructure created by both parties will include the latest Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) accelerators, and Google Cloud's specialized development platform Vertex AI Platform. These hardware and software conditions will enable customers to better build generative AI applications.

To advance the Arabic language model, PIF and Google Cloud will also explore enhancing Google's generative AI model Gemini's Arabic language capabilities by combining additional Arabic language datasets with Google Cloud's technology.

Through this collaboration, customers can also use Google Cloud technology to support cross-industry growth and increase the delivery capabilities of artificial intelligence applications. Local businesses and their end consumers can expect to benefit from higher quality artificial intelligence applications and data services, and achieve faster delivery locally.

Alphabet and Google's President and Chief Investment Officer, Ruth Porat, said, "This strategic partnership will accelerate the application of artificial intelligence in local languages and across industries, including medical care, retail, financial services, etc., serving businesses and startups in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, Africa, and around the world. As part of Saudi Arabia's rich technology ecosystem, our goal is to create high-skilled job opportunities for Saudis and create opportunities for global enterprises by driving growth through cloud computing."

Preliminary research conducted by Access Partnership, a global technology policy consulting firm commissioned by Google Cloud, estimates that the new artificial intelligence center will cumulatively add $71 billion to Saudi Arabia's GDP over eight years. The increase in economic activity brought by adopting artificial intelligence in Saudi Arabia is expected to support the creation of thousands of high-skilled direct and indirect job opportunities.