$1B UAE AI initiative for Africa; Salesforce releases Arabic agents
Middle East AI News weekly digest...
Good morning!
Welcome to this week’s Middle East AI News email digest, brought to you by big data analytics and AI company Presight!
Lots of news to share this week. The biggest news of the week is probably the $1 billion AI infrastructure initiative announced by the UAE last Saturday at the G20 meeting in Johannesburg. However, there is plenty more, such as OpenAI hosting corporate AI services on UAE data centres, Salesforce rolling out new Arabic language AI agents under its Agentforce platform and the launch of Oracle’s new AI supercluster in the UAE.
Thank you for reading! And thanks to our Strategic Sponsor Presight! You can check out Presight’s website here!
/Carrington
Investment
UAE unveils $1B for AI infrastructure in Africa
#UAE #infrastructure – The UAE has launched a $1 billion AI for Development Initiative via the Abu Dhabi Exports Office to expand digital and AI infrastructure across Africa. Announced at the G20 in Johannesburg, it targets government services, education, healthcare and climate adaptation to support national priorities. (Middle East AI News)
UAE eyes up to $50bn investment in Canada’s AI and energy sectors
#UAE #investment – The UAE plans to invest as much as $50 billion in Canada across AI, energy and mining. Announced during Canadian PM Mark Carney’s visit, the framework involves ADNOC’s XRG and G42, marking deeper Emirati engagement in global strategic infrastructure. (Reuters)
Aramco Ventures to open Paris office for AI investment
#Saudi #venturecapital – Aramco Ventures is establishing a Paris office to lead European AI investments worth hundreds of millions of euros. France was chosen for its strong talent base and rising AI ecosystem, with initial focus on AI, cybersecurity and quantum startups across Europe. (Zawya)
Abu Dhabi’s Lunate weighs $1 billion commitment to MGX
#UAE #investment – Lunate is considering an investment of up to $1 billion in state-backed AI investor MGX, reinforcing Abu Dhabi’s long-term AI capital strategy. The move signals rising momentum behind sovereign AI infrastructure and specialist model development. (Bloomberg)
Data Centres & HPC
HUMAIN plans up to 600,000 NVIDIA GPUs across US and Saudi
#Saudi #infrastructure – HUMAIN is preparing one of the world’s largest AI infrastructure expansions, targeting as many as 600,000 NVIDIA GPUs. Announced in Washington DC, the rollout adds Blackwell GB300 platforms, new U.S. sites and deeper collaboration on models, digital twins and physical AI. (Middle East AI News)
Oracle deploys first Middle East OCI Supercluster in Abu Dhabi
#UAE #supercomputing – Oracle has launched a major OCI Supercluster in Abu Dhabi, adding over 4,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs for sovereign AI. The installation boosts local training, inference and R&D capacity, supporting regulated sectors and the emirate’s AI-native government strategy. (Middle East AI News)
Orange Maroc opens 1.5MW Casablanca data centre
#Morocco #infrastructure – Orange Maroc has inaugurated a 1.5MW data centre in Casablanca, its largest in Africa, featuring over 1,000 on-site solar panels. The facility expands Orange’s regional portfolio alongside existing sites in Casablanca, Rabat and Tangier. (DataCenterDynamics)
Arabic AI
Salesforce brings Agentforce autonomous agents to Arabic
#UAE #agents – Salesforce has rolled out Arabic-language support for its Agentforce autonomous AI agents in the UAE, enabling customer and citizen services in Arabic across Service Agent and Employee Agent platforms. The upgrade automates high-volume workflows and aligns with national digital priorities. (Middle East AI News)
Startups
Strataphy secures $6 million for subsurface cooling in Saudi
#Saudi #funding – Strataphy has raised $6 million to scale its PrimeLoop deep-thermal cooling technology in seed funding led by Saudi venture capital firm Outliers Venture Capital and UAE investment firm Shorooq. The system reduces power consumption for hyperscalers. (Middle East AI News)
Propeller launches $50m Fund III for AI infrastructure
#Saudi #funds – Propeller has introduced a $50 million Fund III from Riyadh to back early-stage AI infrastructure and AI-native applications across MENA and the US. Operating from Amman, Riyadh, Boston and Silicon Valley, the firm has already invested in five US-focused startups this year. (Middle East AI News)
Buildroid raises $2 million to automate Gulf construction
#UAE #robotics – Buildroid has raised $2 million in pre-seed funding and unveiled a block-laying robot powered by a BIM-to-BUILD simulation pipeline. The company reports major productivity gains and plans to expand pilots, autonomy features and early commercial deployments. (Middle East AI News)
Saudi’s Minus Zero uses AI to map cognitive patterns
#Saudi #education – In Al-Khobar, Minus Zero has introduced an AI platform that analyses language to detect cognitive and emotional patterns. Built with privacy and fairness in mind, it supports national goals for data-driven education and talent development systems across the kingdom. (Arab News)
LLMs
GSMA and Khalifa University to expand TelecomGPT tools
#UAE #telecoms – The GSMA Foundry and Khalifa University are developing a new version of TelecomGPT, adding a chat interface and Open Telco Knowledge Graph to help operators tackle sector-specific AI challenges. The collaboration aims to accelerate innovation across regional telecom networks. (Middle East AI News)
Libya’s Smart Co launches LibiGPT national LLM
#Libya #LLMs – Smart Co has released LibiGPT, Libya’s first national large language model, offering 7B, 13B and 34B parameter versions. Trained for Arabic, including Libyan dārija, English and French, it includes a public chat app and supports lightweight and enterprise deployments. (Middle East AI News)
GenAI
Emirates partners with OpenAI to scale enterprise AI
#UAE #aviation – Emirates is adopting ChatGPT Enterprise and creating an AI Centre of Excellence in partnership with OpenAI. The airline aims to embed AI skills and workflows across operations, gaining early access to new capabilities as part of its wider digital transformation. (Middle East AI News)
OpenAI offers UAE data residency for ChatGPT and API
#UAE #dataresidency – OpenAI has introduced UAE data-residency options for ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT Edu and API customers, enabling compliance with national governance requirements. The rollout follows rapid regional adoption and supports growing sovereign AI priorities across Abu Dhabi and Dubai. (Middle East AI News)
Sentiment
61% of Moroccans unaware of AI despite digital growth
#Morocco #adoption – Morocco’s ANRT ICT survey reports that 61% of citizens still do not know what AI is, even as internet usage and smartphone penetration surge. The study shows rising urban adoption, growing trust and recognition of AI’s strategic value nationwide. (Morocco World News)
Cisco finds strong Saudi uptake of AI for cybersecurity
#Saudi #cybersecurity – Cisco’s AI Readiness Index reports growing awareness of AI-driven security threats in Saudi Arabia, with 51 percent of organisations already deploying AI to bolster cyber defences. The study also shows 91 percent plan to adopt AI agents, reflecting fast-rising enterprise adoption. (Middle East AI News)
Energy
PDO adopts UptimeAI to boost asset reliability
#Oman #energy – Petroleum Development Oman has selected UptimeAI’s Operational Excellence platform to optimise equipment performance across compressors, turbines, pumps and valves. The locally hosted solution integrates with SAP, offering explainable, real-time insights that enhance reliability, reduce maintenance costs and consolidate operator knowledge. (Yahoo Finance)
[ This newsletter was both AI edited & human edited ]
Thanks for writing this, it clarifis a lot; what if this African AI infrastructure initiative inspiras comparable, human-centric programms in other developing regions?