Jonathan Ross, CEO and Founder of Groq, and Tareq Amin, CEO of Aramco Digital, a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, proudly announced their partnership to build the largest AI inference data center in Saudi Arabia. The data center will leverage Groq® LPU™ AI inference technology, advanced AI processors designed specifically for massive-scale inference workloads and delivering speed and efficiency.
Tareq Amin stated, “With the support of the Kingdom’s leadership, we are proud to partner with Groq to develop a world-leading inferencing data center in Saudi Arabia. This initiative not only aims to create the largest facility of its kind but also ensures seamless access to advanced AI computing power for everyone, offered through our digital marketplace, nawat, in a flexible “as-a-Service” model. Our collaboration with Groq aligns directly with Vision 2030, promoting the localization of advanced technologies, driving innovation, enhancing sustainability, and reinforcing digital excellence within the Kingdom.”
This strategic partnership will play a pivotal role in Aramco Digital’s vision to leverage advanced technologies that drive operational excellence and support the Kingdom’s program, Vision 2030. By combining cutting-edge AI and ML infrastructure from Groq with Aramco Digital’s strategic goals, this partnership aims to revolutionize data processing and analytics across various sectors.The facility will process billions of tokens per day by the end of 2024 and be able to onboard hundreds of thousands of developers in the region and then hundreds of billions of tokens per day able to support millions of developers by 2025, setting a new industry standard and bringing advanced technology from Groq to the Kingdom.
To demonstrate the power of the Groq and Aramco Digital partnership and what nawat will be able to achieve, Ross and Amin appeared on stage at the Global AI Summit (GAIN) in Saudi Arabia to spotlight applications that take advantage of ultra low-latency in ways that could never be done before Groq technology. Ross shared a voice demo where he and Amin had a conversation with a Groq-based AI system that answered questions about Vision 2030. This demo showed how instant inference enables AI experiences to be more fluid and human-like with regard to the speed of interaction.
“The Groq partnership with Aramco Digital demonstrates our shared dedication to pushing the boundaries of AI. Integrating with Aramco Digital’s marketplace nawat will generate unparalleled processing power and scalability accessible to anyone, making it a key contributor to the global AI ecosystem,” said Jonathan Ross. “Securing our first and largest local presence within Saudi Arabia ensures Groq will remain at the center of the leading AI hub in the region. Saudi Arabia’s visionary leadership and strategic location offer an ideal platform for Groq to achieve its goal of meeting half of the world’s AI inference needs.”
This initiative is expected to attract global technology companies and startups to the Kingdom, fostering a dynamic ecosystem of innovation and collaboration. It will also create numerous high-tech job opportunities for Saudi talent, further enhancing the country’s capabilities in the digital domain.
Daniel Newman, CEO of The Futurum Group and leading industry analyst, commented, “The speed by which AI is proliferating is unprecedented and requires the most capable technologies to deliver on the promise of AI. Our research has found that the growing demand for AI services will not only require an incredible amount of investment in AI infrastructure, but also an ecosystem of highly capable technology partners and implementers to realize its potential. The recent announcement of Aramco Digital partnering with Groq to deliver market leading AI inference represents a key partnership in one of the most important and fastest growing regions for AI investment and consumption.”
In the past six months alone, nearly half a million AI developers have started using Groq inference cloud solutions.
The nawatAI compute center is one of two facilities outside of the US that are beginning to leverage Groq inference technology. In April 2024, Groq announced its work with Norwegian energy partner Earth, Wind & Power and is working to complete the next phase of this project as it begins expansion into Europe. This partnership in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is instrumental in setting the new compute standard for AI inference data centers around the world, and marks progress towards the Groq vision to provide access to leading AI technology for innovators globally.