The United States and the United Arab Emirates have launched the U.S.-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership, a comprehensive bilateral framework to deepen cooperation on artificial intelligence and critical technologies.
Thursday's announcement was made at Qasr Al Watan, where President Trump and UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan attended the unveiling of Phase 1 of a new 5-gigawatt AI campus in Abu Dhabi.
The centerpiece of the agreement is the groundbreaking of a 1GW AI data center, part of the largest AI infrastructure project outside the United States.
Spanning 10 square miles, the AI campus will support U.S. hyperscalers and large enterprises offering compute services to nearly half the global population located within 2,000 miles of the UAE. The project will utilize nuclear, solar, and gas power, and feature a science park to drive AI innovation and sustainability.
The US has a preliminary agreement with the United Arab Emirates to allow it to import 500,000 of Nvidia's most advanced AI chips per year.
The campus will be developed by G42, the UAE’s national AI champion, in partnership with leading U.S. technology firms. American companies will operate data centers and provide U.S.-managed cloud services throughout the region.
G42 has been the focus of scrutiny for it's close ties with Chinese AI developers. Last year then Chairman Mike Gallagher of the House China Committee called for sanctions on the firm, citing investigative work by his staff and the New York Times [11602].
G42 has an extensive business relationship with Chinese military companies, state-owned entities and intelligence services, according to Gallagher, who called for the Administration to investigate whether the company and its subsidiaries should be subject to US export controls.
Specifically, the Commerce Department should consider including G42 and its subsidiaries on the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Entity List, Gallagher wrote in a January 2024 letter to then-Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
The Select Committee's 2024 investigation, found that G42’s CEO Peng Xiao operates and is affiliated with an expansive network of UAE and PRC-based companies that develop dual-use technologies and materially support PRC military-civil fusion and human rights abuses.
The framework includes commitments to prevent diversion of U.S. technologies and enhance Know-Your-Customer (KYC) protocols. The compute capacity will be limited to U.S. hyperscalers and approved cloud providers, consistent with U.S. national security standards.
Xio, a former executive with software firm cum crypto venture MicroStrategy, concedes the challenges of export controls, telling Fortune “The challenge is when data or models get to your clients, your customer’s hands, where you don’t have that type of control anymore,”
As part of this collaboration, the U.S. and UAE will streamline UAE investment in U.S. digital infrastructure, while also jointly promoting responsible deployment of AI. A working group will be formed within 30 days to implement and monitor the agreement.
“We're making great progress for the $1.4 trillion that the UAE has announced that it intends to spend in the United States over the next couple of years," Mr. Trump told the UAE-U.S. Business Forum in an address during his visit. "This will generate billions and billions of dollars in business and accelerate the UAE plans to become a really major player in artificial intelligence.
The UAE’s longstanding interest in AI includes the establishment of a federal AI ministry (2017), the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (2019), and the UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, aimed at positioning the country as a global hub for AI across education, healthcare, energy, and transportation.
Other transactions announced during the President's UAE visit include a $14.5 billion commitment from Etihad Airways for the purchase of 28 Boeing aircraft and a $60 billion oil and gas deal with ADNOC involving ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum, and EOG Resources.
UAE officials said the country will increase the value of its energy investments in the U.S. to $440 billion over the next 10 years. That would be the combined market capitalization of oil majors Shell and Chevron. Specific investments were not detailed.
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