The US has approved exports of the world’s most powerful AI chips to UAE and Saudi Arabia, marking a significant policy shift. This breakthrough reflects deepening ties between Washington and Gulf tech powerhouses.
The approval is part of a broader “Compute Diplomacy” strategy under the second Trump administration, which seeks to knit the Gulf into the US-led ecosystem of AI development and secure long-term partnerships in cutting-edge technology.
In a move that signals a major shift in global technology diplomacy, the US Commerce Department has authorised the export of advanced American semiconductor chips to state-linked AI firms in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Announced in November 2025 but gaining fresh attention in early 2026, the decision allows UAE’s G42 and Saudi Arabia’s Humain to purchase up to 35,000 Nvidia Blackwell-class chips each. These processors are among the most powerful that are currently available for artificial intelligence applications.
Although the initial shipment size, 35,000 units per company, is modest compared with the roughly half-million chips needed for just one gigawatt of compute, the authorisation establishes the regulatory pathway for far larger deployments in the future.
For more than a decade, advanced semiconductors have been tightly controlled by export regulations in Washington. There were concerns focused on preventing sensitive technology from reaching rival states or being used in ways contrary to US security interests. This latest approval indicates a significant recalibration of US export policy.
The Gulf nations are now being recognised as trusted hubs for large-scale compute infrastructure, capable of hosting powerful AI systems and collaborating on future digital innovation.
In the UAE, the approval accelerates projects such as the Stargate UAE AI campus, a massive computing hub planned in partnership with global tech firms including Oracle, Cisco, AMD and Nvidia itself.
Local leaders have described the US clearance as a “pivotal moment” that confirms the UAE’s role as a secure, high-performance data centre location outside the traditional US and Asian tech corridors.
Similarly, in Saudi Arabia, the state-backed AI firm Humain is preparing data centres in Riyadh and Dammam that are expected to go live in 2026 powered by US chips, a foundational step in the kingdom’s Vision 2030 strategy to diversify away from oil and into technology, digital infrastructure and AI research.
Gulf states, with their rapid investments and geographic advantages, contribute to a distributed global AI infrastructure that serves multiple markets. The authorisation is a part of economic strategy. Middle Eastern tech sectors, once peripheral in the AI race, are now hosting some of the world’s fastest supercomputers and attracting billions in investment from multinational firms.
UAE’s partnerships with major players like Nvidia and Cisco and Saudi Arabia’s planned data centres with partnerships including Qualcomm and AMD, point to a rapidly diversifying AI ecosystem in the Gulf.