US semiconductor startup Groq has secured a $1.5bn commitment to expand its artificial intelligence chip deliveries to Saudi Arabia, as global leaders gather in Paris to discuss AI regulations, Saudi media reported on February 11.

The company, founded by a former Alphabet engineer, will receive funding throughout 2025 to expand its existing data centre in Dammam. Groq specialises in chips that improve speed and execution for pre-trained models, particularly for chatbots and large language models.

The announcement was made at the LEAP 2025 technology conference in Riyadh, where Saudi Arabia has attracted expected AI investments worth $14.9bn. Groq, valued at $2.8bn last August after raising $640mn, currently partners with Aramco Digital.

While Groq's specialised chips are subject to US export controls, the company said it has obtained necessary licenses for shipments to Dammam.

The data centre will support technologies including Alaam, a bilingual Arabic-English AI language model developed by the Saudi government.

Meanwhile in Paris, political leaders and technology executives began a two-day summit on February 10 to discuss AI safety regulations.

More than 60 major companies announced an alliance aimed at making Europe a "world leader" in AI while simplifying the regulatory framework.

Nine countries including France launched the "AI Now" initiative for "AI for the Public Good" with an initial $400mn investment backed by 11 technology leaders.

The summit comes as pressure mounts on the European Union to adopt a more flexible approach to AI regulation amid US moves to reduce restrictions.

The news of the Dammam datacentre plans follows Chinese AI player DeepSeek who will also move some of its operations to the Persian Gulf city more famous for its hosting of Saudi Aramco and the US military.

Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek has begun operating through Aramco Digital's data centres in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, marking another significant development in the kingdom's expanding AI infrastructure, company officials announced on February 9 at the conference.

"The data is stored locally and never transferred elsewhere once used," said Tariq Amin, former CEO of Aramco Digital, during his conference address in Riyadh.

"We anticipated the world's need for proper AI model inference and operations, particularly with DeepSeek," he added, bnm IntelliNews previously reported.