This CEO Knows Why Software Stocks are Suffering
HUMAIN’s Tareq Amin on turning energy abundance into an AI export engine
If you’d like to join me – and peers – for deeper conversations on innovation and leadership, get on this list for Fortt Knox Executive Communities, launching soon: mba.fortt.com.
This is an AI-assisted summary of my Fortt Knox Update with HUMAIN CEO Tareq Amin. View the full interview here:
Of all the CEO conversations I had about this week’s tech stock rout – and there were several – this one stood out. A global tech CEO is deploying billions of dollars to launch an AI enterprise, and he’s not buying traditional software.
HUMAIN CEO Tareq Amin frames the company as a national-scale bet to convert Saudi Arabia’s energy abundance into a durable advantage in artificial intelligence. His core analogy: where the Kingdom once led global energy exports via oil, HUMAIN aims to lead exports of AI “tokens” by building the full AI value chain: power, land, connectivity, compute, models, applications and advisory, at unprecedented scale and cost efficiency. The company is building gigawatt-class AI factories on vast master-planned sites, pairing low-cost energy with diversified semiconductors from leading U.S. chipmakers to attack the biggest constraint facing AI-native companies today: infrastructure cost.
Amin argues that AI shifts the innovation equation toward energy and scale without eliminating the need for talent. Saudi Arabia’s investments in education are paying off, he says, with a young, digitally fluent workforce returning home and blending with global hires. HUMAIN claims strong inbound interest from international talent and plans satellite offices in the U.S., while keeping Riyadh as its foundation.
On strategy, HUMAIN is pragmatic about where to build versus partner. Rather than designing chips outright, it invests heavily through a venture arm with more than $21B under management, largely in the U.S., to gain exposure to breakthrough inferencing, latency, and total-cost-of-ownership innovations. Amin is also outspoken about enterprise software’s future: HUMAIN has avoided buying traditional SaaS, instead building AI-first enterprise systems internally, using AI agents to generate databases, middleware, and interfaces at speed. He believes “results as a service,” not seats or licenses, will define enterprise sales. Platforms slow to adapt will suffer.
“If we’re successful, HUMAIN will lead the world in energy exports via tokens. So the thing that was very apparent to me: Saudi Arabia is blessed with abundance. Abundance of natural resources, energy, both the traditional and renewable. And when it comes to AI, I mean, the one thing that it needs to succeed is power. You need power, connectivity, land, and the right power at the right price.”
Highlights
Positions HUMAIN as an end-to-end AI value-chain builder anchored in low-cost energy
Building gigawatt-scale AI factories on massive, master-planned sites
Diversified compute strategy with leading U.S. chip partners
Focus on inferencing economics: latency, speed, and total cost of ownership
Strong global talent pull; diverse team spanning 29 countries
U.S. seen as core innovation partner; satellites planned in Silicon Valley
Venture arm manages $21B+, prioritizing U.S. AI infrastructure startups
Avoids traditional SaaS internally; builds AI-first enterprise software
Advocates “results as a service” over licenses or seats
Warns legacy software vendors must re-architect for AI agents or risk disruption
If you’d like to join me – and peers – for deeper conversations on innovation and leadership, get on this list for Fortt Knox Executive Communities, launching soon: mba.fortt.com.