Canada's Gulf investment ties deepen with Humain AI collaboration

Canada’s ties with Gulf investors widened on Thursday as Toronto-based artificial intelligence company Cohere announced a collaboration with Riyadh-backed start-up Humain that will see the Saudi firm provide at least 50 megawatts of dedicated AI computing capacity to support Cohere’s next‑generation foundational models. The capacity expansion is expected to be live by late 2027, with the ability to increase over the next five years, the companies said in a joint statement released during Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to Saudi Arabia.

Direct quote

"The fact that Cohere has selected Humain for the first significant international AI compute deployment outside North America underscores the strength of the AI infrastructure we are building and our ability to support the next generation of model research and development," Humain chief executive Tariq Amin said in a statement.

Context and details

The announcement came as Mr Carney — the first Canadian prime minister to visit Saudi Arabia in 26 years — held talks in Jeddah where Canada and Saudi Arabia signed 13 commercial agreements and initial pacts worth more than $1 billion spanning health technology, mining, infrastructure and defence. Mr Carney also met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during the trip, his third to the Gulf as part of a broader effort to diversify Canada’s trade and investment links beyond the United States.

The Cohere‑Humain deal is part of a broader pattern of Gulf investment into AI and computing infrastructure. Humain is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and has secured several agreements with technology companies since its establishment last year as the kingdom positions itself under Vision 2030 to become an AI centre. Other Gulf players cited alongside the deal include UAE‑based G42, which focuses on AI and cloud computing for sectors from energy to health, and Qatar’s new AI champion, Qai, launched by the country’s sovereign wealth fund.

Canadian ministers have actively courted Gulf capital: Ottawa has been negotiating investments including an announced potential investment of up to $50 billion from the UAE into sectors such as energy, AI, logistics and mining. Canadian International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu told Reuters earlier this year that Canada wants to attract investment in liquefied natural gas and that XRG, Adnoc’s international investment arm, is evaluating Canadian natural gas projects.

• Cohere will receive at least 50 MW of dedicated compute from Humain, with expansion possible over five years.
• The deployment is expected to be operational by late 2027.
• Canada and Saudi authorities signed 13 commercial deals and initial pacts valued at more than $1 billion during the visit.
• Humain is backed by the Public Investment Fund and is part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 AI ambitions.

Outlook

The collaboration positions Cohere to leverage significant overseas compute resources as it develops advanced models, while offering Humain an early role as a provider of international AI infrastructure. The move also illustrates Ottawa’s strategy to deepen commercial ties across the Gulf amid friction with the US — a strategy that has already produced high‑profile commitments, such as the multi‑billion‑dollar UAE investment discussions and Qatar’s January strategic partnership with Canada to accelerate two‑way investment in AI, quantum computing and defence.

Major global technology investments continue to escalate: Meta is building a 1 gigawatt data centre in Alberta that will cost about $9 billion, and the company plans to spend between $125 billion and $145 billion on AI infrastructure and related spending in its current fiscal quarter, while the four major US hyperscalers are projected to spend about $700 billion on AI this year. For Canadian AI firms, the Humain partnership is one of several avenues to secure the compute power required to stay competitive in a rapidly capital‑intensive field.