UAE, US plan 5GW AI cluster; Arabic Falcon LLM arrives
Middle East AI News weekly digest...
Good morning!
Welcome to this week’s Middle East AI News!
I thought that there might be a brief lull in the AI news cyclce after President Donald Trump’s left the region, but that was certainly not the case! Some big global announcements and many focused on the region too.
The biggest AI deals of the last week are the plans for a 1.4GW AI campus in the Paris area backed by Abu Dhabi’s tech fund MGX, and G42’s new partnership with iGenius to build Europe’s largest supercomputer in Italy!
Also big news on AI models this week! TII has finally announced an Arabic language version of Falcon (plus some rather powerful hybrid models), while G42 has partnered with French AI pioneer Mistral AI to build new models and platforms.
Scroll down for these stories and much, much more!
Thanks for reading! And thanks to our Strategic Sponsor, Presight.
/Carrington
Mega Projects
UAE, US unveil 5GW Abu Dhabi AI cluster
#UAE #infrastructure – The UAE and US have announced a sovereign AI cluster anchored by a 5GW data centre in Abu Dhabi under the new US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership. Led by G42 and US tech firms, the campus aims to host hyperscalers and support innovation for nearly half the world’s population. (Middle East AI News)
MGX and Bpifrance back 1.4GW Paris AI campus
#France #infrastructure – Europe’s largest AI infrastructure project has been announced in France, backed by Abu Dhabi’s MGX and France’s Bpifrance. The Paris AI Campus will offer 1.4GW of compute capacity across healthcare, energy and mobility, with operations expected by 2028. (Middle East AI News)
Core42 and iGenius to build 100 exaflop AI supercomputer
#Italy #HPC– UAE-based Core42 and Milan’s iGenius will build Europe’s largest AI compute cluster in Italy, costing €1 billion. Powered by NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs, the Colosseum supercomputer will deliver over 100 exaflops of compute and support sovereign AI, launching this summer in Puglia. (Middle East AI News)
LLMs
TII launches first Arabic Falcon model
#UAE #Falcon – Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII) has released Falcon Arabic 7B and Falcon-H1, its first Arabic LLM and a hybrid model. Falcon Arabic leads regional benchmarks, while Falcon-H1 outperforms Meta and Alibaba models in the 30–70B parameter range. (Middle East AI News)
G42, Mistral AI to co-develop AI models, platforms
#UAE#LLMs – G42 and France’s Mistral AI have agreed a strategic partnership spanning open-weight models, infrastructure and applied AI. Announced at the Choose France Summit, the alliance supports sovereign AI development across the Middle East, Europe and the Global South.(Middle East AI News)
TII launches Falcon-Edge ultra-efficient AI models
#UAE #BitNet – Technology Innovation Institute (TII) has released Falcon-Edge, a series of ultra-compact language models running on just 1.58 bits. Based on Microsoft’s BitNet architecture, the models target edge AI deployments with low power use. A developer toolkit has also been released. (Middle East AI News)
Falcon AI models launch on Amazon Bedrock
#UAE #LLMS – Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII) and AI71 have partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to bring the Falcon family of LLMs to the Amazon Bedrock Marketplace. The collaboration expands global access to Falcon’s ten open-source and hybrid models via a pay-as-you-go model and unified API integration. (Middle East AI News)
Funding
Tarjama& raises $15m for Arabic.AI
#UAE#funding – UAE-based Tarjama& has secured $15 million to scale Arabic.AI, its agentic AI platform for Arabic enterprise use. Backed by Global Ventures, the funding will accelerate AI-native tools for sectors including government, healthcare and media.(Middle East AI News)
Labs
Qualcomm to open global engineering hub in Abu Dhabi
#UAE #engineering – Qualcomm will set up a Global Engineering Centre in Abu Dhabi, focused on AI, industrial IoT, and data centres. Backed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), the centre will drive high-performance computing innovation and create local jobs. (Middle East AI News)
ADIA Lab, LIST launch AI agent sandbox
#UAE #agenticAI– Abu Dhabi’s ADIA Lab and Luxembourg’s Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) have partnered to launch the world’s first sandbox for testing multi-agent AI systems. The platform addresses a major industry challenge: evaluating the performance and safety of agentic AI. (Middle East AI News)
Smart Cities
WeRide launches fully driverless robotaxis in Abu Dhabi
#UAE #AVs – WeRide has launched the Middle East’s first fully driverless robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi, operating without safety drivers on Al Maryah and Al Reem islands. The deployment marks a major milestone for autonomous mobility in the UAE, building on services first introduced in 2021. (Middle East AI News)
Bold Technologies to build $2.5B AI-powered city platform
#UAE #smartcities – Abu Dhabi’s Bold Technologies has unveiled plans for Aion Sentia, a $2.5B AI cognitive city platform to be completed by 2027. Built by joint venture My Aion Inc., the platform will use Synapsia’s MAIA OS to deliver predictive, real-time city services through a unified AI layer. (Middle East AI News)
UAE's first electric air taxi trial flight expected before 2025: Archer
#UAE #airmobility – Archer Aviation will begin trial flights of its fully electric air taxi Midnight in Abu Dhabi before the end of 2025. The eVTOL aircraft is part of the UAE’s urban air mobility push, with local research and production plans under a framework deal with Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO). (Emirates News Agency)
Education
MBZUAI expands École Polytechnique alliance
#UAE #partnership – Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) has deepened its collaboration with France’s École Polytechnique. The new agreement advances LLMs, reasoning models, and AI for biology and safety, supporting joint PhDs and the upcoming MGX Paris AI Hub.(Middle East AI News)
Accelerators
G42, WWT launch Forge42 AI accelerator
#UAE #innovation – G42 and World Wide Technology have launched Forge42, a new industrial AI accelerator in Abu Dhabi. The platform will link companies to cutting-edge AI tools and international partners to drive applied innovation and economic diversification. (Middle East AI News)
EDGE launches AI Accelerator to fast-track defence AI
#UAE #defence – UAE defence group EDGE has launched the Group AI Accelerator, a new Centre of Excellence to accelerate AI integration across its advanced defence systems and manufacturing. The initiative will also nurture local talent and consolidate EDGE’s leadership in AI for national security. (Middle East AI News)
Media
62% in UAE trust AI news over humans
#UAE #media – A new YouGov survey reveals that 62% of UAE residents trust AI-generated news as much or more than human-written content—double the levels reported in the UK or USA. The finding underscores the country’s growing acceptance of generative AI in everyday media. (Middle East AI News)
Presight to build AI platform for UAE media oversight
#UAE #media – The UAE Media Council has commissioned Presight to develop an AI-powered platform for pre-publication review of media content. The Unified Media AI and Analytics Platform will digitise content inspection across formats, replacing manual processes with faster, standardised AI analysis. (Middle East AI News)
UAE taps Presight to deploy AI for media strategy
#UAE #media – The UAE’s National Media Office has contracted Presight to develop an AI platform for real-time sentiment and narrative analysis. The system will monitor billions of media data points daily, aligning messaging with national priorities and supporting secure, data-driven media strategy. (Middle East AI News)
Marketplace
IHC to launch Emirati AI agent and marketplace
#UAE #marketplaces – IHC has unveiled plans to launch SAIF, the Smart Artificial Intelligence Facilitator, powering the first UAE-built AI marketplace. The platform will offer developers flexible access to GPUs and LLMs. (Middle East AI News)
New Stats
70% of UAE consumers now shop with AI tools
#UAE #retail – AI tools like ChatGPT are reshaping shopping habits in the UAE, with 70% of consumers now using AI assistants to shop—more than double the regional average. The findings from global payment platform Adyen point to rapid AI adoption in the retail sector. (Middle East AI News)
21.5% of Saudi internet users adopt AI tools
#Saudi #adoption - The Communications, Space and Technology Commission’s Saudi Internet 2024 report reveals that 21.5% of Saudi internet users actively use AI applications. The 20–29 age group leads adoption at 27.3%, highlighting growing digital awareness and Saudi Arabia’s innovation drive. (Saudi Press Agency)
AI Policy
Oman launches AI policy for safe, ethical use
#Oman #guidelines - Oman’s Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology unveiled a comprehensive AI policy to ensure secure, ethical use and foster innovation. The framework covers security, transparency, data privacy, and fairness across public and private sectors. (Muscat Daily)
Morocco announces plans for new AI directorate
#Morocco #strategy - Morocco plans to accelerate adoption of AI across public and private sectors via a new dedicated AI and emerging technologies directorate under the General Directorate of Digital Transition. Digital Transition Minister Ghita Mezzour announced the move in parliament on Wednesday. (Barlaman Today)
Space
UAE unveils first homegrown AI satellite constellation
#UAE #satellite – Orbitworks has revealed Altair, the UAE’s first AI-enabled Earth observation satellite constellation, to be fully assembled and integrated in Abu Dhabi. (Middle East AI News)