Saudi Arabia is spending heavily to build AI data centers, and that is good news for Taiwanese hardware makers looking for a new big customer.

• Saudi Arabia plans to grow its data center capacity to 1.5GW by 2030, and to 6.6GW over the next decade.
• The country wants its own "sovereign AI" — local Arabic language models, local chips supply lines, and local factories — and has named 2026 its year of artificial intelligence.
• HUMAIN, the Saudi state-backed AI company, says it wants server racks, power management and cooling systems built locally, which is exactly what Taiwan's supply chain sells.
• A Taiwanese trade delegation visited Riyadh, meeting the sovereign wealth fund and major business groups; 44 Taiwanese firms showed products at the LEAP tech show, and Compal signed a hospital robot deal with a local partner.
• Saudi Arabia is also working with Nvidia, AMD and Cisco to build out its computing power fast.

Outlook: Talks are moving toward electric vehicles, drones and robots too, with Saudi companies invited to Taiwan and to the Computex show next June.