Trump Bets On AI To Drive U.S. Economy As Saudi Crown Prince Pledges $1 Trillion Investment

President Donald Trump is increasingly relying on the technology sector-particularly artificial intelligence-to drive his economic vision, a dependence that became even more apparent as he hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week.

The crown prince has pledged $1 trillion in investments with U.S. companies, a commitment centered on leveraging Saudi Arabia's oil and natural gas resources to transform the kingdom into a global AI data hub.

"We will work closely with friends and partners like those in this room to build the largest, most powerful, most innovative AI ecosystem in the world," Trump declared at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum on Wednesday. In the front row at the Kennedy Center sat Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang and tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Trump credited his administration for both the new investments and this year's stock market performance-developments largely driven by the AI infrastructure boom. Despite his assertions that tariffs are attracting foreign capital, much of the incoming investment is flowing into AI data centers and the power generation required to support them.

While the president celebrated what he called "amazing" stock market gains, major U.S. indices fell on Tuesday amid rising concerns about whether AI companies are inflating a broader market bubble.

Political risks are also emerging for Trump, especially if the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure increases utility costs for Americans or if the promised jobs fail to materialize.

A Tuesday analysis by Oxford Economics concluded that AI investments helped offset the "extreme uncertainty" facing the U.S. economy this year-uncertainty partly driven by Trump's tariff hikes, which have pushed up inflation and may have contributed to slower hiring. The consultancy also highlighted a growing reliance on debt among AI firms to fund their expansion, signaling "a more vulnerable phase" for the sector in the coming year.

Saudi Investments Driven by AI Demand

Saudi Arabia's investment commitments have surged sharply-from $600 billion during Trump's May visit to $1 trillion during Prince Mohammed's meeting at the White House on Tuesday.

Trump said he has already urged the crown prince to raise the figure even higher, recounting how he privately pushed him backstage before their joint appearance.

"While we were taking the picture, I said, 'Could you make it $1.5 trillion?'" Trump told attendees. "So he's got something to think about."

Asked about the most significant growth themes at the summit, Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman pointed to "AI and, you know, power," explaining that these areas dominate the firm's focus. He noted that Blackstone is the world's largest developer and owner of data centers, a sector experiencing explosive demand.

Tareq Amin, CEO of Humain, said his Saudi-backed AI firm was created during Trump's May visit to the kingdom. The company identified an opportunity to build AI infrastructure and data centers by combining U.S. technology with Saudi Arabia's vast energy resources.

"Yes, it is an ambitious, crazy thing," Amin said confidently.

Meanwhile, Musk-whose xAI division has developed the Grok chatbot-envisioned a future where AI and robotics make work optional, eliminate poverty, and render money "irrelevant."

"AI and humanoid robots will actually eliminate poverty," Musk said, adding that robots would "make everyone wealthy."

Onstage with Musk, Nvidia's Huang offered a more measured outlook. "Everybody's jobs will be different. I think that's for sure," he remarked, ahead of Nvidia announcing its quarterly results. After Wednesday's earnings release, the $4.5 trillion chipmaker reported strong third-quarter performance with net income rising 65% from last year.

During his speech, Trump asked Huang whether any other nation could rival Nvidia's Blackwell chip, which is central to today's AI development.

"Not yet, sir," Huang replied from the front row.

With AP Inputs