Aramco Digital has announced partnership with Groq, a US-based AI company, to deploy AI technology across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the end of 2024. 

The partnership was announced at the Global AI Summit in Riyadh by Tareq Amin, CEO Aramco Digital, and Jonathan Ross, Groq’s founder and CEO. “We are proud to partner with Groq to build a world-leading inferencing data centre in Saudi Arabia. This facility will provide unmatched AI computing power through our digital marketplace, Nawatt, in a flexible as-a-Service model, supporting Vision 2030 by driving innovation and advancing the Kingdom's digital leadership,” said CEO Tariq 

Jonathan added, "Deploying in Saudi Arabia with the commitment to build the world’s largest AI inferencing data center.The Kingdom is an ideal hub for the project due to its very active business climate, plentiful energy reserves, and strategic location – being ‘at the nexus of 4 billion people’."

Aramco Digital also shared the news stating, “We are proud to announce our collaboration with Groq to establish the world’s largest AI inferencing data centre right here in Saudi Arabia. This groundbreaking centre will revolutionise AI capabilities across various industries, accelerate technological advancements, and contribute to positioning the Kingdom as a global leader in AI innovation”

“We're excited to share that a major milestone has been achieved in the Aramco Digital/Groq partnership. Our mutual goal to establish the world's largest AI inference data centre in Saudi Arabia. We are looking forward to building out the supply chain with the Aramco Digital team to make this happen,’ shared Stuard Pann, Chief Operating Officer at Groq. 

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In other exciting news, Aramco Digital’s CEO, Tareq, introduced a new generative AI model, ‘Norous,’ designed to boost workplace productivity and establish Saudi Arabia as an AI compute hub for 4 billion people across Europe, Africa, and Asia. This AI model simplifies workflows by allowing employees to complete tasks using voice commands, eliminating the need to switch between applications. From creating organisational structures to scheduling meetings, this hands-free technology will reshape the future of work, allowing seamless execution on one intelligent platform. Aramco Digital has also developed a custom operating system, NourOS, which operates entirely through natural language commands, enabling users to interact with the platform more naturally for tasks ranging from simple queries to complex operational setups.

Groq is expanding in the region to keep up with Microsoft and OpenAI, aiming to process 1 billion tokens per second, powered by over 600 megawatts of energy. Known for its rapid AI output, over 444,000 developers use its API, making it the second-largest AI company globally. With Groq’s advanced AI chips, Norous is expected to reach 25 million tokens per second by early 2025 and eventually scale up to 1 billion tokens.