AI chip breakthrough expected as Trump heads to GCC

Gulf leaders seek US support & partnerships for ambitious AI goals

Carrington Malin

May 12, 2025

President Trump with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 2017 (Credit: SPA)

1×

0:00

-10:00

President Donald J. Trump embarks on his first international trip this week, since assuming office in January. Although he has a great deal to pack into his visits to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, AI and technology investment is high on the agenda.

U.S. technology export controls have been top of mind for Gulf technology and government leaders for the past couple of years, as access to high-end computer processors has been further restricted. So, while Gulf leaders seek assurances about their access to US artificial intelligence technology, partnerships and investments, Trump is using this access as a bargaining chip to negotiate other trade, investment, policy and security deals. The President worked to build close relationships with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders during his first term and, no doubt, wants to capitalise on this strength during this visit.

One thing we can expect from the U.S. President's visit is that we will see lots of deals announced. Gulf leaders are as keen to see their successful policies and bilateral negotiations evidenced by high-profile deals, as Mr. Trump is. In addition to government-orchestrated deals, this is an opportunity for the commercial and financial sectors to usher their own initiatives into the global spotlight.

President Trump’s Gulf tour schedule

Whilst the Whitehouse has yet to confirm final details for the President's Gulf visit, he is expected to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and then the United Arab Emirates between Tuesday May 13th and Friday May 16th.

Tuesday, May 13th - Trump is expected to meet with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, hold bilateral meetings and attend the Saudi-US Investment Forum.
The forum draws together business, financial and government leaders from both countries, including the CEOs of Aramco, Blackrock, Blackstone, Citi Group, Franklin Templeton, IBM, Google, Qualcomm and Cleveland Clinic.
Wednesday, May 14th - Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has invited other GCC leaders to attend a Gulf-U.S. summit in Riyadh. According to Axios, this is scheduled for Wednesday.
Trump is then expected to depart Saudi Arabia for Qatar, where he will meet with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Emir of Qatar.
Thursday, May 15th - The U.S. President is expected to travel to the UAE on Thursday and meet with His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. Trump's Middle East visit is scheduled to conclude on Thursday, but whether he will depart on 15th or 16th remains unconfirmed.

A key export market and fast-growing tech hotspot

In 2024 the USA exported about $50 billion of goods and services to the GCC markets, accounting for 2% of its global exports. Saudi Arabia and the UAE represented 26% and 54% of US exports to the GCC, respectively.

The GCC has always been a big investor in technology, but over the past 7-8 years national AI plans and accelerated digital transformation programmes have increased ICT spending dramatically, in particular by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), the two countries now account for about 40% of ICT spending across the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa.

IDC estimates UAE spending on ICT in 2024 was 8% up on the previous year, totaling $23 billion. Saudi Arabia spent an estimated $37 billion on ICT, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.3%. By the way, those figures exclude defence sector spending.

Both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have ambitious plans to lead the world in artificial intelligence adoption, development and policymaking. Much progress has been made with Saudi Arabia receiving the top ranking for Government Strategy, in 2024’s Global AI Index, compiled by Tortoise Media. Meantime, the recent 2025 AI Index Report from Stanford University, ranked Saudi Arabia third worldwide for AI hiring growth, after India and Brazil, while the UAE appears among the top 10 countries in its list of most-cited AI research publications.

US chip export controls

Last Wednesday, the Trump administration confirmed that it planned to rescind and modify restrictions on advanced AI chips, announced in January during the last few days of the outgoing Biden administration.

President Biden introduced new, more complex export controls on supercomputers, high-end AI processors and artificial intelligence models, which were due to come into effect this week. The new regulations added more stringent restrictions to export controls introduced in 2022 and 2023.

Decried by many US tech leaders, the past three years of increasingly restrictive controls on US AI technology exports have become a top concern for Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as the restrictions risk derailing national AI plans. High performance computing projects have had to be delayed, re-planned or even cancelled as a result. For this reason, both countries have deepened engagement with the US government on technology imports, investment and partnerships in an effort to both meet US security concerns, and secure better and faster access to AI chips.

US tech Gulf partnerships get stronger

Rather than distance the USA from its Gulf trade partners, the short-term effect of these technology export controls seems to have been an increased commitment to US trade relations, partnerships and investment. In March, the UAE committed to investing $1.4 trillion in the United States during the official Whitehouse visit of His Highness Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi and UAE National Security Adviser.

The situation has also seen Saudi Arabia and the UAE restrict their technology agreements and spending with Chinese firms. Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund-backed AI group G42 has gone to great lengths to both align with US policies and allay technology export concerns. The group has stripped out server and networking systems from a Chinese multinational from its operations, in favour of US vendors. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s $1.5 billion investment in G42, announced in April last year, included strict governance and compliance policies negotiated with significant input from US and UAE governments.

In addition, commercial needs led G42 to leverage its partnership with California-based AI system developer Cerebras Systems to build out a massive, US-based AI supercomputer cloud service, called Condor Galaxy. The group also strengthened partnerships with other key US technology firms such as AMD, Cisco, Nvidia, Qualcomm and others.

At the same time, US technology leaders have only increased their commitment and investment in GCC markets. Over the past two years alone, US tech firms have announced more than $15 billion of investments in Saudi Arabia, with many more investments announced without specifying figures. Leading tech vendors such as AMD, Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Groq, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Qualcomm, ServiceNow and Salesforce are all building out new programmes, joint initiatives and locally based resources in the Gulf.

Potential deals and announcements

Here are some of the potential deals and announcements that might take place during President Trump’s visit to the Gulf:

Chip export controls - Trump is expected to confirm new export controls on high-end AI chips and technologies and rescind the last set of Biden regulations.
Proposed US fast track for FDI - Last week the U.S. Treasury Department announced plans for potential fast track for foreign investment into the United States. With more and more GCC investment going into the US tech and life sciences sectors, this could have a significant impact on FDI from the region.
Bilateral technology agreements - We may see bilateral technology agreements announced, covering access to AI chips, high-end technology, tech partnerships and ICT investment in the USA.
MoUs & joint ventures - We will see a number of deals announced between US firms and local organisations, government and commercial.
US-Saudi civil nuclear deal - It’s possible that we may get an announcement on a bilateral civil nuclear deal. According to Reuters sources quoted last week, the Trump administration has now de-linked Saudi Arabia’s joining the Abraham Accords, paving the way for an early nuclear agreement.
Security & geopolitics - With US-Iran nuclear programme talks taking place yesterday, the ongoing situation in Gaza and other issues around the region, there are bound to be statements made on geopolitics too.

Will Trump's visit prove to be a pivotal moment?

President Trump’s visit could indeed mark a pivotal moment for tech diplomacy between the US and the Gulf, and more. Global power struggles, offensive military operations across the region, Iran nuclear tensions, US tech export controls, and turmoil in international markets have created an almost unparalleled period of uncertainty. So, the prospect of mitigating even one or two of these risks will have a significant impact for the region.

The US president’s Gulf visit is also an opportunity to revitalise strategic relations with key Gulf allies, building on recent efforts to expand and deepen bilateral ties with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The Gulf states wasted no time in engaging with the incoming Trump administration, and have been actively exploring new trade and investment opportunities. So the region is an obvious source of win-win deals for the early days of the Trump presidency.

Of course, for the technology ecosystem and governments with ambitions for global AI leadership, nothing is more important that getting access to the latest AI technology, including high-end AI chips.

Since AI development, adoption and education have all been made national priorities in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the impact of reliable access to powerful AI chips will have national impact.

The ability to leverage the latest technology has never been more important. Saudi and the UAE in particular have spent the past 8 or 9 years scaling their national AI and data programmes, driving the need for more compute. So, with powerful compute as a critical factor for national digital transformation, agreements made this week could well turn out to be pivotal for the region’s future.

Middle East AI News

Discussion about this post