The Aporia · Everyone expects two AI blocs. The Gulf is betting on both

Everyone expects two AI blocs. The Gulf is betting on both

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Taub, J. (2026, September 15). Everyone expects two AI blocs. The Gulf is betting on both. Semafor. https://www.semafor.com/article/09/13/2026/everyone-expects-two-ai-blocs-the-gulf-is-betting-on-both

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Quick Summary

Saudi Arabia is building extensive AI infrastructure by partnering with U.S. firms while also collaborating with Chinese technology companies. For instance, at the recent LEAP conference in Riyadh, state-backed HUMAIN unveiled Arabic AI technology based on a model from China’s MiniMax. Despite potential contradictions, Saudi Arabia is strategically maintaining relationships with both American and Chinese tech giants, leveraging its capital, energy resources, and geopolitical flexibility. This approach allows the country to control critical AI infrastructure, enabling it to benefit economically and strategically as major powers compete for influence in the region.

Written by AI on 2026-09-15, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Saudi Arabia is constructing significant AI infrastructure, collaborating with both US firms and utilizing American chips; for instance, AWS alone has pledged $5.3 billion to build data centers in the kingdom. At the same time, during Riyadh’s recent LEAP conference, state-backed HUMAIN showcased Arabic technology based on a model from China’s MiniMax. This dual approach reflects Saudi Arabia's strategy of engaging with both the US and China AI ecosystems simultaneously.

The conventional perspective divides the global AI competition into two blocs: one led by the US, including companies like Nvidia, hyperscalers, and leading research labs; the other dominated by China, which has its own models, engineering capabilities, and a growing competitive stack. However, Saudi Arabia, along with the UAE and other Gulf countries, does not need to choose sides. Instead, they can benefit from being one of the few places where both ecosystems coexist.

Saudi Arabia’s strategy leverages its geopolitical flexibility, alongside advantages such as capital, energy resources, and land availability. HUMAIN is building its infrastructure using American technology while ensuring that Chinese frontier models will not be trained on computing capacity obtained through US export approvals.

Written for “AI Alliances and Global Betting” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans right and hedges 21% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.

Key leaders sound the alarm on AI. And, Iran-Gulf diplomacy hits a setback Different event

NPR

Hedges 4 of 39 claims Outlet record 60/100

“The articles discuss different aspects of AI development and diplomacy in the Gulf region but do not describe the same specific incident or occurrence.”

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

21%

5 of 24 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

Leans right

of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate

Publisher signals

60/100

Semafor's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Technology

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-09-15 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Semafor · 1393 article(s) · 1 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 1 correction(s)

2026-10-16

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Who wrote this

Judah Taub

1 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

🔮 While this may seem as a contradiction, it’s more accurate to view it as a strategy.

2026-09-15 · mixed framing · Everyone expects two AI blocs. The Gulf is betting on both

The only article under this byline in the corpus.

Topics

American Chinese Riyadh Saudi Arabia Washington

Subjects

Saudi Arabia GPE · 7× Chinese NORP · 4× American NORP · 3× Riyadh GPE · 3× Washington GPE · 3× Beijing GPE · 2× China GPE · 2× HUMAIN ORG · 2× AWS ORG · 1× Judah GPE · 1×

Narrative

The conventional view of the AI race splits the world into two blocs: the US, with Nvidia, the hyperscalers, and most of the leading frontier labs, on one side; and China, with its own models, engineering capacity, and increasingly competitive stack, on the other.

framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-15

🔮 While this may seem as a contradiction, it’s more accurate to view it as a strategy.

2026-09-15 · Semafor

Everyone expects two AI blocs. The Gulf is betting on both · mixed framing

Claims (24 extracted, 5 hedged)

Saudi Arabia is building enormous AI infrastructure, partnering with US firms and using American chips — AWS alone has committed $5.3 billion to data centers in the kingdom. asserted

AWS → build → kingdom

Yet at Riyadh’s LEAP conference this month, state-backed HUMAIN unveiled Arabic technology built on a model from China’s MiniMax. asserted

HUMAIN → back → MiniMax

While this may seem as a contradiction, it’s more accurate to view it as a strategy. uncertain

it → seem → strategy

view → split → other

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other Gulf countries don’t need to replicate either ecosystem. asserted

Arabia → need → ecosystem

Their value may lie in being among the few places where both can operate at once. uncertain

both → lie → places

The Gulf has obvious advantages such as capital, energy, and land. asserted

Gulf → have → capital

Saudi Arabia is showing what that looks like in practice. asserted

that → show → practice

HUMAIN is building its infrastructure with American technology and has agreed that Chinese frontier models won’t be trained on computing capacity it obtains through US export approvals. asserted

it → build → approvals

At the same time, it keeps its relationships with Chinese firms open. asserted

it → keep → firms

Beyond the MiniMax deal, ByteDance’s cloud arm is building infrastructure in Riyadh, Tencent Cloud has secured a Saudi operating license, and Lenovo has already rolled its first “Made in Saudi Arabia” laptop. asserted

Lenovo → build → laptop

The strategy stems from a simple calculation. asserted

strategy → stem → calculation

American restrictions push Riyadh toward Chinese alternatives, and Chinese shortfalls in frontier performance push it back toward Washington. asserted

shortfalls → push → Washington

In the end, both sides end up competing for something the Gulf increasingly controls: AI infrastructure. asserted

Gulf → end → something

AI may feel like software, but in many ways, it’s more like heavy industry, with enormous data centers, electricity, cooling, land, and capital. uncertain

it → feel → centers

Saudi Arabia has all of it. asserted

Arabia → have → it

DataVolt is already constructing a roughly $1 billion, 100-megawatt facility at NEOM designed to export compute, with ambitions to expand to 360 megawatts. asserted

DataVolt → construct → megawatts

This allows Saudi Arabia to compete globally not by inventing the best chip or training the best model. asserted

Arabia → allow → model

The kingdom can own a growing share of the infrastructure everyone else’s models runs on, and use access to that infrastructure to extract investment, localization commitments, and technology transfer. asserted

models → own → investment

If Washington insists on treating access to chips as a foreign policy tool and Beijing uses open models to penetrate markets its hardware can’t access, Saudi Arabia and Gulf states will follow their own interests, which is not to choose between either side, and the AI competition may look more like the Cold War than expected. uncertain

competition → insist → War

Rather than two sealed blocs, it could produce a handful of swing states able to play both sides, extracting economic and strategic benefits as Washington and Beijing compete for their allegiance. uncertain

Washington → seal → allegiance

The Gulf spent decades learning to turn control over energy into geopolitical leverage. asserted

Gulf → spend → leverage

It’s now applying the same playbook to compute. asserted

It → apply → compute

Judah Taub is the founder and managing partner of Hetz Ventures, an Israeli early-stage venture capital firm specializing in cybersecurity, data, and AI infrastructure. asserted

Taub → manage → cybersecurity