Saudi Arabia’s Neom Project Shifts Gears: From Futuristic City to AI Data Hub Amid Financial and Climate Challenges

Saudi Arabia’s sci-fi desert city is now a blueprint for AI data centers—because cooling servers in the desert might actually make more sense than building a city.

Saudi Arabia’s Neom 'The Line' project, originally envisioned as a 170km linear city for 9 million people, is reportedly being downscaled and repurposed as an AI data center hub.

A person briefed on the matter stated, “The Line will be a totally different concept... a major center for AI.”

Neom confirmed it is “always looking at how to phase and prioritise our initiatives” to align with “national objectives and create long-term value.”

The shift comes as Saudi Arabia secured 18,000 AI GPUs from Nvidia in 2025 for state-sponsored data centers. However, climate constraints remain a hurdle: 7,000 of the world’s 8,808 data centers operate in “wrong climate” zones, and nearly all Saudi facilities are in “too hot” zones.

The Line’s coastal location could mitigate this by leveraging Red Sea seawater for cooling—a practical advantage over the original utopian vision.

Financial pressures, including “tightening liquidity” and “subdued oil prices,” have accelerated the pivot.

The original 9 million-person city has given way to a focus on 18,000 GPUs and climate-adaptive infrastructure. The project’s reorientation reflects a pragmatic recalibration of ambitions.