Dawn of a Global Cause: Riyadh’s Future Minerals Forum 2026 – Where Vision Meets Innovation


The Heartbeat of a Global Movement

In the bustling metropolis of **Riyadh, Saudi Arabia**, anticipation is mounting as the world turns its gaze toward the upcoming *Future Minerals Forum (FMF)* in January 2026. Convened by the **Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources**, this fifth and largest edition promises to be more than a conference—it is the epicenter of a movement. With the inspiring theme *"Dawn of a Global Cause"*, FMF is set to unite **over 500 leaders** from governments, multilateral organizations, and academia. Together, they will shape a future where responsible mineral development serves as the cornerstone of economic growth and sustainability. 

Transitioning seamlessly between policy vision and actionable innovation, FMF 2026 will rally decision-makers to forge new economic opportunities for both supplier and customer nations. This is not merely about extracting resources—it’s about harnessing minerals to uplift communities, diversify economies, and secure the pathways of tomorrow. The program blends **high-level dialogue with practical investment initiatives**, striking a rare balance between aspiration and execution.  



 Innovation and Collaboration in Action

The three-day program is a masterpiece of strategic engagement, featuring landmark moments such as the **world’s largest Ministerial Roundtable on minerals**, welcoming over 100 government representatives, 70+ international organizations, and top industry CEOs. These leaders will gather to explore global supply challenges, investment opportunities, and groundbreaking technologies shaping the mineral sector. In partnership with McKinsey, the *State of the Sector* will unveil the inaugural **Future Minerals Barometer Report**, offering unparalleled insights into market trends, leadership sentiment, and industry reputation.  

Moreover, FMF 2026 introduces first-ever experiences like the *Mineral Investment Journey*, exclusive sessions for investors, and the *Gateway to Funding*, connecting institutional financiers with international mining innovators. The *MinGen Workshops* will empower young professionals, women in mining, and rising industry leaders—fueling the next generation of change-makers. With visionary voices such as Dominic Barton (Rio Tinto), Bob Wilt (Maaden), and Catherine Raw (BHP) sharing the stage, FMF 2026 solidifies Riyadh’s role as a **global convening hub** for mineral dialogues, investments, and innovations—all in pursuit of a more sustainable and equitable future.

From Riyadh to the Heart of the World: The Inspiring Journey of Dr. Hani Najm


A Surgeon Who Touches Hearts — Literally and Figuratively

In the bustling city of **CHICAGO**, exciting news is resonating across the medical community: *Saudi cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Hani Najm* has been named vice president of the esteemed **American College of Cardiology (ACC)** — a role he will officially assume in March. Later next year, he will step into the role of president, becoming only the *third surgeon* in the ACC’s 75-year history to hold such a prestigious position.  

Dr. Najm’s journey is far from ordinary. A pediatric and congenital heart surgeon of exceptional skill, he is celebrated not only for pioneering life-saving surgical procedures but also for revolutionizing care for the tiniest and most vulnerable patients — infants born with critical heart defects. Among his groundbreaking achievements is the invention of a unique heart valve for infants, one that grows with the child, eliminating the need for multiple risky surgeries. This innovation alone has changed the trajectory of countless young lives.  

Miracles in the Making: Groundbreaking Surgery Before Birth

In one of the most extraordinary medical feats of recent years, Dr. Najm successfully operated on a fetus inside the mother’s womb to remove a life-threatening tumor. At just five months into the pregnancy, he opened the mother’s abdomen, then her uterus, and finally the tiny chest of the unborn child to carefully remove the tumor. The surgery saved the baby from certain heart failure, leading to a full-term delivery of a healthy newborn.  

Such courageous and unprecedented procedures are a testament not only to Dr. Najm’s expertise but also to his unwavering commitment to his patients. His successes, however, are not solely the result of his personal dedication. Dr. Najm credits the unwavering support of the Saudi government for his achievements. He proudly acknowledges that he is a *product of Saudi education and vision*, underscoring how the nation’s investments in human capital are shaping global excellence.  

From Riyadh to the Cleveland Clinic: A Vision Fueled by Support

Born and educated in Saudi Arabia, Dr. Najm began his medical journey at King Saud University’s medical school before earning a scholarship to train in Canada. Over a decade, he honed his skills in general surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and pediatric heart surgery, while also obtaining a master’s degree in cardiovascular sciences. This rigorous preparation equipped him to provide world-class patient care and conduct research that pushes medical boundaries.  

After returning to Saudi Arabia, Dr. Najm served as deputy chairman at the King Abdulaziz Cardiac Center in Riyadh, dedicating 17 years to serving his community. His exceptional track record eventually led to his recruitment by the globally renowned Cleveland Clinic, where he now serves as executive co-director of the Pediatric and Adult Congenital Heart Center. His leadership and passion continue to impact patients from around the world, while also inspiring the next generation of medical professionals.  

A Legacy of Excellence and Hope

In recognition of his contributions, Dr. Najm was honored with the **Great Arab Minds Award** in medicine — often referred to as the “Arab Nobel Prize.” His story is a remarkable blueprint of what can be achieved when talent, opportunity, and vision combine. More than a celebrated surgeon, Dr. Najm is a bridge between nations, showcasing how Saudi Arabia’s investment in education and research benefits the global community.  

From delicate infant heart valves to daring fetal surgeries, his work reminds us that medicine is as much about courage as it is about precision. And as he prepares to take on leadership in the American College of Cardiology, the world watches with anticipation, knowing that Dr. Hani Najm’s next chapter will be as inspiring and life-changing as the path he has already walked.  




From Desert Sands to Data Clouds: How HUMAIN and NVIDIA Are Building the Nerve System of Global AI


In Washington, D.C. – HUMAIN, a PIF company delivering global full-stack artificial intelligence solutions, today announced an expanded strategic partnership with NVIDIA, with plans to deploy up to 600,000 of NVIDIA’s latest AI infrastructure technologies over the next three years, including NVIDIA GB300 platforms. This announcement is more than a routine tech update; it is a vivid glimpse into how the next era of artificial intelligence will be powered, governed, and experienced.

As the world steadily shifts into an AI-first reality, this partnership feels like the moment when the lights come on in a vast new digital city. With every rack of GPUs, every fiber link, and every data center HUMAIN launches, the global AI landscape becomes more interconnected, more sovereign, and more ambitious. And yet, at its heart, this story is as much about people and culture as it is about compute and clusters.


A New Continental Spine for AI Infrastructure

The announcement in Washington, D.C. marks a turning point in how we think about AI infrastructure. Instead of scattered, isolated compute silos, HUMAIN and NVIDIA are sketching a continuous, high-density backbone that stretches from Saudi Arabia to the United States. Over the next three years, HUMAIN plans to deploy up to 600,000 of NVIDIA’s latest AI infrastructure technologies, including NVIDIA GB300 platforms. This massive rollout reads like the blueprint for a new kind of industrial revolution, one built not on steel and steam but on data and intelligence.

In addition to establishing NVIDIA-powered data centers in Saudi Arabia, HUMAIN is expanding its operations to AI data centers in the United States powered by NVIDIA AI. These facilities are not just warehouses of machines; they are carefully engineered ecosystems for training large-scale models, running secure inference, and integrating sovereign-cloud capabilities. With each deployment, HUMAIN weaves new threads into a global fabric of AI compute, ensuring that nations and enterprises can innovate with both power and independence.

Furthermore, this is not a standalone move. The deepened partnership is aligned with several other announcements at the forum, reinforcing the companies’ shared commitment to accelerating sovereign AI infrastructure and next-generation compute. These developments build on the foundation established during HUMAIN’s launch in May, where the NVIDIA collaboration was first unveiled as part of HUMAIN’s mission to deliver end-to-end AI solutions and global-scale compute capability. Step by step, HUMAIN is evolving from a visionary concept into one of the central engines of global AI progress.


The Rise of Sovereign AI – From the U.S. Heartland to the Arabian Peninsula

At the core of this expansion lies a powerful idea: sovereign AI. Nations are no longer satisfied with just accessing AI; they want to shape it, secure it, and embed it into their strategic future. HUMAIN is forming a new strategic partnership with Global AI, an American sovereign AI infrastructure company, to develop large-scale AI data centers and compute capacity in the United States powered by NVIDIA technologies, including NVIDIA GB300 AI infrastructure connected with NVIDIA Quantum-X800 InfiniBand networking. This combination brings together raw computational strength and ultra-fast, low-latency networking, ideal for cutting-edge model training and inference.

The new U.S. campus will be designed for high-density compute and advanced AI workloads, enabling large-scale model training, secure inference operations, and sovereign-cloud integration. Together, these capabilities will create globally competitive infrastructure for enterprises, public-sector entities, and frontier-model developers. In other words, this is not just another data center; it is a launchpad for the next generation of AI-native organizations, from research labs to startup ventures.

Simultaneously, HUMAIN’s ambitions extend across the Atlantic and deep into the Arabian Peninsula. As part of a parallel agreement also announced today, HUMAIN and xAI will jointly develop a network of world-class data centers in Saudi Arabia, anchored by a flagship 500 MW+ facility, which will expand xAI’s supercluster footprint. The infrastructure represents xAI’s first major large-scale deployment outside the United States, as HUMAIN’s partner in launching the approximately 18,000 NVIDIA GB300 GPUs in the first cluster announced earlier this year. This will support the training of future Grok models and serve as a critical inference outpost. Altogether, these moves reinforce Saudi Arabia’s intent to stand at the forefront of AI, not just as a consumer, but as a global producer and innovator.


The “AI Zone” in Riyadh – A New Hub of Digital Gravity

To further accelerate this transformation, HUMAIN is expanding its collaboration with AWS through a new AI infrastructure partnership announced today. Under this agreement, AWS will deploy and manage up to 150,000 NVIDIA GPUs within a dedicated “AI Zone” in Riyadh. This AI Zone is not merely a technical facility; it is envisioned as a living, breathing ecosystem where developer communities, enterprises, and public institutions converge around shared AI infrastructure.

The AI Zone will be purpose-built to support cutting-edge AI training and inference workloads, with NVIDIA’s GPUs delivering a broad range of compute-intensive capabilities. From foundational models to highly specialized domain applications, the Riyadh AI Zone will act as a gravitational center for innovation, pulling in talent, research, and investment from across the region and beyond. As a result, what might seem like a local project becomes, in practice, a global node in the emerging network of sovereign AI centers.

This integrated approach underscores HUMAIN’s strategy: rather than building isolated islands of compute, it orchestrates interconnected hubs that can collaborate, share insights, and accelerate each other’s progress. According to HUMAIN CEO Tareq Amin, “Our continued partnership with NVIDIA is central to HUMAIN’s mission. We are working together to advance global AI infrastructure. By expanding our compute capacity in both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia with the latest NVIDIA AI infrastructure, HUMAIN, and our partners at Global AI, xAI, and AWS, secure an even stronger strategic foothold. This integrated presence gives us the strength and scale to fuel the future of global AI innovation.”


AI as the New Electricity – A Global Vision Takes Shape 

Underpinning all these developments is a striking analogy from Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA: “AI is essential infrastructure — like electricity, every industry will use it, and every country will build it. Saudi Arabia intends to be a leading global AI hub. With NVIDIA-powered infrastructure deployed across the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, HUMAIN and its partners are building the innovation engine for the new industrial revolution.”

This comparison to electricity is more than a metaphor. Just as power grids once redefined how cities, factories, and communities operated, the expanding AI infrastructure that HUMAIN and NVIDIA are building is redefining how innovation happens. Every sector—energy, manufacturing, logistics, aviation, smart cities, and even large-scale infrastructure development—will increasingly rely on AI to design, simulate, optimize, and operate complex systems. Therefore, countries that invest now in robust, sovereign AI infrastructure are effectively laying down the power lines of the 21st century.

Moreover, the HUMAIN–NVIDIA collaboration is deliberately structured to be global in scope yet local in sensitivity. By combining sovereign AI strategies with global-scale compute, HUMAIN enables nations and organizations to innovate responsibly, securely, and at scale. The result is a future where AI is both widely available and carefully governed, both powerful and accountable.


Giving Arabic a Digital Superpower – HUMAIN Chat and ALLAM 

While infrastructure may be the backbone of this story, language and culture are its heart. As part of the companies’ expanded collaboration, HUMAIN will use NVIDIA Nemotron open technologies to train HUMAIN Chat, an Arabic conversational AI app powered by HUMAIN’s ALLAM large language model. HUMAIN Chat is built to bring AI to the world’s more than 400 million Arabic speakers so that people can create, learn, and connect in their own language, culture, and context.

This is significant for several reasons. First, it signals a shift away from a monolingual AI universe dominated by English. Instead, it embraces the richness of regional languages and identities. Second, it shows how sovereign AI infrastructure can directly address local needs—supporting education systems, government services, media, and creative industries in Arabic-speaking countries. Finally, it underlines HUMAIN’s belief that AI should not just be technically advanced, but culturally aware and socially relevant.

In practical terms, the use of NVIDIA Nemotron open models provides HUMAIN with a flexible and powerful foundation for training and fine-tuning HUMAIN Chat. This allows the model to capture nuances of dialect, context, and cultural reference that are often lost in generic, one-size-fits-all systems. Over time, users will not just interact with a machine; they will feel understood—on their terms, in their language, and through their stories.


Building a Planet of Digital Twins – Giga-Projects and Physical AI

Beyond conversational AI, the HUMAIN–NVIDIA partnership is reaching into the physical world through one of the most ambitious visions in technology today: Connected Digital Twins. The partnership expansion includes building one of the world’s most advanced Connected Digital Twin ecosystems, including Giga-Projects for economic development, powering next-generation capabilities across energy, manufacturing, smart cities, logistics, aviation, and large-scale infrastructure development.

Under the partnership, HUMAIN will integrate NVIDIA Omniverse libraries with its national AI stack, combining HUMAIN’s advanced compute infrastructure, cutting-edge foundation models, and AI agents with NVIDIA’s end-to-end digital-twin and simulation technologies. Imagine entire cities that can be simulated before they are built, logistics networks that can be stress-tested before they are deployed, and energy systems that can be optimized before they go live. This is physical AI in action—where virtual models guide real-world decisions at massive scale.

As these Giga-Projects come to life, they will serve as living laboratories for the future of urban design, mobility, and sustainability. Developers, planners, and policymakers will be able to experiment safely in high-fidelity virtual environments, finding smarter, more resilient solutions before committing resources on the ground. Consequently, what once took years of trial and error can now be compressed into accelerated cycles of simulation, insight, and implementation.


Toward a Secure, Scalable, and Responsible AI Future

All of these initiatives—sovereign AI data centers, superclusters, AI Zones, Arabic-language models, and digital twin Giga-Projects—are guided by HUMAIN’s broader strategy. The expansion of the HUMAIN–NVIDIA collaboration aligns with HUMAIN’s global strategy to deliver sovereign, secure, and scalable AI compute. With NVIDIA’s latest AI infrastructure and platform innovations at its core, HUMAIN is positioned to advance full-stack AI capabilities across critical industries, including public sector, enterprise, research, and media, and to enable nations and organizations to innovate responsibly, securely, and at scale.

Ultimately, this story is about more than hardware and software. It is about designing a future in which AI is a shared resource, a strategic asset, and a cultural bridge. It is about making sure that when AI reshapes our world, it does so in ways that respect sovereignty, celebrate diversity, and unlock human potential.

As the sun sets over Riyadh’s deserts and rises over data centers in the United States, a new kind of global infrastructure is quietly humming to life. In that hum, you can almost hear the first notes of a new era—one where intelligence flows as freely and powerfully as electricity once did, lighting up not just cities and factories, but ideas, languages, and dreams.

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