The United States has approved the sale of Nvidia’s AI chips to UAE company G42 and Saudi start-up Humain. Both companies can buy up to 35,000 Blackwell GB300 chips under strict security and reporting rules, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. The move is seen as an important step in technology cooperation with the Gulf countries.
UAE ambassador to Washington Yousef Al Otaiba called the approval a milestone in the relationship between the two countries. “The White House’s decision to authorise US chip exports to the UAE marks another milestone in the trusted and enduring partnership between our two nations,” he said, adding that it shows confidence in joint work on technology and security.
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G42 said the approval will speed up major projects, including Stargate UAE, a large AI computing system being built with OpenAI, Nvidia and Oracle. CEO Peng Xiao said, “What we build in the UAE, we will continue to match in the US, maintaining symmetry and trust at every layer.”
The UAE has invested heavily in AI research and infrastructure. This includes the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence and partnerships with global tech companies, while assuring the US that its technology will be properly protected.
For Saudi Arabia, Humain announced major AI deals on the same day. The company plans to buy 600,000 Nvidia chips for new data centres in Saudi Arabia and the US. It also signed agreements with AMD, Cisco, Adobe and Qualcomm to expand its AI infrastructure and create Arabic-language AI tools.
The announcements were made during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington. The US and Saudi Arabia also signed a new strategic AI partnership. Saudi Arabia has increased its long-term investment plan to $1 trillion, showing its growing ambitions in AI.