Silicon Valley-based AI chip manufacturer Groq has secured a $1.5 billion investment from Saudi Arabia to enhance its AI inference infrastructure within the Kingdom. This significant commitment, announced at the LEAP 2025 technology conference, underscores Saudi Arabia’s strategic push to position itself as a global leader in artificial intelligence.
Groq, founded by former Alphabet engineer Jonathan Ross, specializes in AI inference chips designed to optimize the speed and efficiency of executing commands from pre-trained models. These chips are integral to applications such as chatbots and large language models, where rapid response times are crucial.
The partnership between Groq and Saudi Arabia is not entirely new. In December 2024, Groq collaborated with Aramco Digital, the technology subsidiary of the state-owned oil giant Aramco, to establish a major AI hub in the region. This facility, located in Dammam, was constructed in a remarkable eight-day timeframe, demonstrating Groq’s commitment to operational excellence and rapid deployment capabilities.
The newly announced $1.5 billion investment will further bolster the Dammam data center’s capacity, enabling it to serve the burgeoning AI compute demands of the EMEA and South Asia markets. One of the key projects supported by this expansion is Allam, a bilingual AI language model developed by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority . Allam operates in both Arabic and English, catering to a diverse user base and enhancing the Kingdom’s AI capabilities.
During the LEAP 2025 event, Groq’s CEO Jonathan Ross, alongside Tareq Almin and Ahmad O. Al-Khowaiter, Chief Technology Officer of Saudi Aramco, showcased live demonstrations of the Allam model and text-to-speech applications in both English and Arabic. These demonstrations highlighted the practical applications of Groq’s technology and its potential to drive innovation within Saudi Arabia’s AI ecosystem.
This investment is a cornerstone of Saudi Arabia’s broader Vision 2030 initiative, which aims to diversify the nation’s economy beyond oil by fostering growth in technology and innovation sectors. At LEAP 2025, the Kingdom announced a total of $14.9 billion in new AI investments, signaling a robust commitment to becoming a global AI hub.
In addition to the Groq partnership, other notable investments include a $2 billion collaboration between Alat, a company owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and Chinese tech giant Lenovo. This partnership aims to establish an advanced manufacturing and technology center focused on AI and robotics, further cementing Riyadh’s status as a burgeoning tech hub.
Groq’s expansion into Saudi Arabia also reflects a strategic response to global geopolitical dynamics. With U.S. export controls on advanced technologies, Groq has secured the necessary licenses to export its AI chips to the Dammam facility, ensuring compliance while meeting the region’s growing demand for AI solutions.
In August 2024, Groq achieved a valuation of $2.8 billion after raising $640 million in a funding round led by prominent investors such as Cisco Investments, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and BlackRock Private Equity Partners. This financial milestone underscores the confidence investors have in Groq’s technology and its potential for global impact.
