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Saudi Arabia’s most valuable fund was announced in talks with companies, including the well-known US investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, to create a large $40 billion investment specifically for artificial intelligence (AI) investment. The development, first reported by the New York Times and later confirmed by CNBC sources, reflects the country’s desire to increase its intellectual capacity.
According to sources familiar with the matter, who wish to remain anonymous due to media communication restrictions, negotiations have been going on for months. Although negotiations have not yet been completed, it establishes a potential link between Saudi Arabia’s $925 billion Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Silicon Valley venture capital leader Andreessen Horowitz.
More importantly, there is no indication that Andreessen Horowitz and other members of the PIF were involved in the negotiations.
Neither PIF nor Andreessen Horowitz immediately commented on CNBC’s investigation into the matter.
PIF’s quest to diversify Saudi oil revenues is in line with the goals of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s “Vision 2030” initiative. Capital has begun to invest on a large scale, pouring billions of dollars into the business sector and entering into joint ventures with major global institutions such as Uber, Bank of America, Citi, SoftBank and Blackstone.
Andreessen Horowitz has $35 billion in assets under management and a significant track record of supporting successful businesses such as Airbnb, Coinbase, Facebook and Slack. The company’s broad portfolio includes nearly 100 technical startups.
In a famous blog post published on the company’s website in June 2023, co-founder Marc Andreessen talked about the need to aggressively pursue innovation, international intelligence and said that there are significant risks associated with neglecting pre-production plans-wise.