Trump's Gulf gamble: Helping UAE and Saudi become AI powers
The enduring legacy of President Trump's trip to the Gulf may be the transformation of the Middle East into a global artificial intelligence powerhouse, despite massive risks to the U.S.
Why it matters: The Biden administration saw the Gulf as a backdoor for China to gain access to the computing power needed to advance AI. President Trump and the tech CEOs who joined him in the Middle East see a chance for multibillion-dollar deals.
Driving the news: In deal after deal announced over the week, Trump opened the door for the Gulf to obtain the world's most advanced AI chips.
In Saudi Arabia, Trump and tech leaders from AMD, Amazon and other companies announced AI-related partnerships worth billions of dollars with a new Saudi-state-backed AI infrastructure startup called Humain. Nvidia said it will ship 18,000 of its cutting-edge AI chips for a 500-megawatt data center being built by Humain.
In the UAE, Trump and Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed said the two countries will partner to build the largest AI data center outside the U.S., in Abu Dhabi.
What they're saying: Trump's AI czar, David Sacks, called the deals a "game-changer in the global AI race" that will "help to cement American technology as the global standard — before our competitors can catch up."
"The alternative to this framework was to exclude critical geo-strategic, resource-rich friends and allies from our AI ecosystem. This was the Biden policy, and it was foolish in the extreme," Sacks added.
The White House says last week's announcement by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE are part of a "Trump Effect" bringing the U.S. "a surge of private and foreign investment."
The big picture: The UAE and Saudi Arabia have leaders desperate to make their kingdoms high-tech powers, and deep pockets and abundant energy needed to develop AI. Now, with Trump's help, they'll also have the chips.
Some experts working on AI heard Trump's pronouncements and envisioned the world's biggest AI data centers sprouting not in the U.S., but in the Gulf.
Perhaps more pressingly, current and former U.S. officials worry China's biggest AI players — or even its military — will be able to access advanced AI chips they can't legally import into China by deepening partnerships in Gulf states, where Beijing enjoys extensive economic and security ties.
The other side: A group of Democratic lawmakers argued on Friday that Trump announced the deals "to export very large volumes of advanced AI chips to the UAE and Saudi Arabia without credible security assurances to prevent U.S. adversaries from accessing those chips."
"These deals pose a significant threat to U.S. national security and fundamentally undermine bipartisan efforts to ensure the United States remains the global leader in AI. Rather than putting America first, this deal puts the Gulf first," the statement adds.
The bipartisan House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party introduced new legislation"to stop advanced U.S. AI chips from falling into the hands of adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party."
The flipside: The White House insists it can safeguard U.S. tech while pursuing these multibillion-dollar deals.
In announcing the U.S.-UAE partnership, the Department of Commerce — which will have to approve some of the deals — said the tech cooperation will meet "robust U.S. security standards and other efforts to responsibly deploy AI infrastructure, both in the UAE and globally."
The administration is also working on a policy to replace the Biden-era chip export caps it withdrew ahead of Trump's trip.
Between the lines: Some policymakers and firms like Nvidia and Microsoft have argued overly arduous restrictions risk ceding the field to China, undercutting U.S. AI preeminence rather than bolstering it.
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