Saudi Communications Ministry, HUMAIN Sign Agreement to Strengthen Kingdom’s AI Infrastructure

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and HUMAIN have signed a partnership agreement to bolster the Kingdom’s artificial intelligence infrastructure, explore strategic investments, and develop specialized studies and solutions to scale AI applications across public and private sectors. Eng. Bassam Albassam, head of the Cloud Computing and AI Enablement Office, signed for MCIT, while HUMAIN was represented by CEO Eng. Tareq Amin. The agreement is aimed at strengthening coordination among stakeholders, attracting local and international investment, and preparing the regulatory and operational environment necessary for AI growth.

"The partnership with Adobe and HUMAIN reflects the Kingdom's commitment to empowering talent, accelerating the growth of the creative economy, and expanding the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) for innovators, creators, and entrepreneurs," Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Alswaha said, framing the deal within broader government objectives.

Agreement specifics and collaboration areas

The MCIT–HUMAIN agreement will focus on exploring opportunities to establish strategic partnerships in the AI infrastructure sector and on strengthening coordination among relevant government and private stakeholders. Key elements include cooperation on specialized studies and technical solutions, knowledge exchange, and the development of innovative capabilities aligned with national standards.

• Support for AI data center development by coordinating with government entities to facilitate enablement and expansion of infrastructure projects.
• Knowledge transfer and national capability building in coordination with the HUMAIN Academy to raise developer skills and expand startup participation.
• Development of specialized national capabilities and operational frameworks to attract strategic investment into the AI sector.
• Joint preparation of studies and technical solutions that meet the requirements of government entities while enhancing infrastructure efficiency.

The agreement explicitly aims to make the Kingdom more ready to scale AI applications by improving the regulatory and operational environment and by encouraging both local and international investment. HUMAIN is identified in the partnership as a Public Investment Fund company, positioning the deal as part of broader state-aligned economic and technological development efforts.

In a related development announced at LEAP 2026, Adobe expanded its cooperation with MCIT and HUMAIN, committing in excess of $4 billion to support the growth of Saudi Arabia’s creative sector. Adobe plans to grant more than 27 million eligible Saudi citizens and residents aged 13 and above twelve months of free access to Adobe Firefly Standard and Adobe Express Premium features by the end of 2026. Adobe Chairman and CEO Shantanu Narayen described the collaboration as combining "the company's creative tools with Firefly Foundry's image and video models, tuned to Saudi culture, the ministry's local expertise, and HUMAIN's understanding of the cultural context."

Adobe and HUMAIN are also developing an image generation model jointly designed and tuned to Saudi culture using Adobe Firefly Foundry, enabling creators to produce high-quality images via Arabic-language prompts. Adobe Firefly features were highlighted as part of a broader push to integrate AI into creative workflows, from idea generation to final production.

Outlook: The MCIT–HUMAIN agreement and the expanded Adobe collaboration create a coordinated push to build physical and human-capital infrastructure for AI in the Kingdom. By targeting data-center enablement, skills transfer through the HUMAIN Academy, and culturally tuned AI creative tools, the initiatives aim to accelerate AI adoption across government entities, startups and the creative economy while drawing strategic investment into Saudi Arabia’s digital ecosystem.