D-AI, the European advanced artificial intelligence and compute infrastructure company founded by Bijan Burnard, has entered into a multi-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The agreement establishes a strategic collaboration to build sovereign national data centers, identity frameworks, and cloud compute systems that form the foundation of Saudi Arabia’s long-term digital transformation under Vision 2030.
The partnership is structured around a shared-benefit economic model that ensures national value creation remains within the Kingdom. Unlike traditional external vendor models that extract profit and retain intellectual control abroad, the D-AI and PIF collaboration emphasizes locally governed systems, local operational command, and the development of Saudi-led technical leadership capacity. The goal is to ensure the Kingdom maintains full ownership of its critical data infrastructure, security protocols, and high-performance compute resources.
As part of the agreement, D-AI will design and deploy high-performance national data centers capable of supporting large-scale AI training, cybersecurity resilience, and secure computational workloads for government agencies. In parallel, the company will work with Saudi digital authorities to create next-generation digital identity and citizen service platforms, enabling seamless and secure access to government systems and public services. A significant pillar of the partnership involves the establishment of sovereign cloud compute systems that ensure data remains stored, processed, and governed under Saudi jurisdiction.
A major component of the initiative focuses on human capital development. D-AI will work closely with Saudi ministries, digital agencies, and institutional partners to train, mentor, and build capacity among Saudi engineers, policymakers, and technical leadership teams. The intent is not only to deploy advanced infrastructure, but to ensure the Kingdom develops the internal expertise required to continuously operate, expand, and evolve these systems independently over time.
Speaking on the signing of the MoU, Bijan Burnard, Founder and CEO of D-AI, stated: “Saudi Arabia is not simply adopting technology — it is designing the architecture of its digital future on its own terms. This partnership empowers the Kingdom to own its infrastructure, shape its AI capabilities, and ensure that long-term strategic and economic value remains with its people.”
In a statement, a representative of PIF emphasized that the collaboration supports Saudi Arabia’s national objective to build sovereign technological strength, expand its digital economy, and cement its position as a global leader in secure, future-oriented compute infrastructure. The spokesperson reaffirmed that the partnership directly aligns with Vision 2030’s mandate to diversify the national economy and develop world-leading human and technological capacity.
The first phase of the collaboration will see the establishment of multiple national data and AI enablement hubs across strategic regions, followed by the phased integration of sovereign cloud systems and digital identity frameworks into key government and institutional infrastructures.
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