At a time when US consumers are frustrated with high energy bills, in part due to data centres, Saudi Arabia is pitching itself as an AI hub with a different message: invest in data centres here, and we will power them on the cheap.

“Saudi Arabia has one real comparative advantage when it comes to AI, and that is cheap electricity,” Greg Priddy, an energy expert at the Center for the National Interest, told Middle East Eye.

“By almost every other metric, it would be better to build centres somewhere else,” he said.

But the lure of ultra-cheap energy, thanks to old-school fossil fuels, means Saudi Arabia has a fighting chance to become an AI powerhouse, experts say.