US approves billions in Nvidia UAE sales
Billions of dollars of Nvidia sales approved in support of the Stargate UAE project
UAE #StargateUAE - The United States Government has approved several billion dollars worth of advanced artificial intelligence chip exports from California-based semiconductor manufacturer Nvidia to the United Arab Emirates, marking the USA’s first major implementation of the bilateral AI agreement announced in May 2025. According to a Bloomberg report. the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security recently issued export licences under the terms of the US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership framework, enabling the delivery of Nvidia’s latest AI chipsets to support the Stargate UAE infrastructure project.
SO WHAT? - Construction in Abu Dhabi has already begun on-site for the Stargate UAE global AI hub, but - over the past few months - US media have reported delays in government approvals for the AI chips necessary to build the data centres. The US Department of Commerce’s approval of several billion dollars worth of Nvidia high-end AI chip sales removes the element of doubt as to whether the Stargate UAE project will continue on schedule. The first phase of the global AI hub is expected to bring 200 Megawatts (MGW) of AI compute capacity online in 2026.
The US government approval is also a significant milestone in American-Emirati AI diplomacy and advances the UAE’s vision to become one of the top global hubs for AI, AI infrastructure and AI services.
Here are the key details of the US approval:
Bloomberg has reported that the United States Government has approved several billion dollars worth of advanced AI chip exports from Nvidia to the United Arab Emirates, marking the USA’s first major implementation of the bilateral AI agreement announced in May 2025.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security recently issued export licences for billions of dollars of Nvidia AI chips under the terms of the US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership framework, announced during President Trump’s visit to the UAE in May 2025.
The approval removes any doubt as to whether the Stargate UAE project will continue on schedule, delivering 200MGW of AI compute in 2026. G42 is currently building foundations for the first phase of the Stargate UAE project.
The export licence approval follows months of negotiations and recent pressure from Nvidia. Last week, the Santa Clara-based chip giant’s CEO Jensen Huang expressed frustration over delays in finalising the UAE’s commitments to US investments before chip deliveries could be authorised.
Earlier in the year, it was announced that OpenAI and Oracle will operate the Stargate UAE facility when the first 200 Megawatt cluster becomes operational in 2026. It was originally announced that NVIDIA would supply the latest Grace Blackwell GB300 systems for the hub’s computing power.
The bilateral agreement announced the US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership framework during the US President’s visit to the UAE in May. In addition to Stargate UAE, the framework also includes commitments from UAE entities to invest in US Stargate infrastructure and other American AI projects aligned with the administration’s America First Investment Policy.
Under the previous US administration’s national security regulations on chip exports, the UAE faced significant restrictions on importing advanced AI processors, threatening the country’s ability to develop sovereign AI capabilities.
The May agreement allows the UAE to import up to 500,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips annually, with deliveries structured to coincide with UAE investments into American technology infrastructure projects.
The Stargate UAE project represents the first milestone in OpenAI’s “OpenAI for Countries” programme, which aims to build AI infrastructure partnerships with international allies whilst establishing the UAE as the first nation to enable ChatGPT access nationwide.
Neither US and UAE governments, nor G42 or NVIDIA have made any official comment on the export approvals.
ZOOM OUT - Stargate UAE is planned to ultimately provide 1 Gigawatt (GW) of AI compute, as part of OpenAI’s plan for a global network of Stargate hubs. The hub also forms part of the ambitious 5 Gigawatt UAE-US AI Campus announced during President Trump’s May visit to Abu Dhabi. The campus is expected to become the largest AI data centre deployment outside the United States, spanning 10 square miles and powered by nuclear, solar and gas sources. The UAE-US AI Campus will deliver sovereign AI-grade compute at scale whilst enabling US hyperscalers to serve nearly half the world’s population. Abu Dhabi-based AI company G42 is leading the overall project plan in partnership with the UAE government, US government and American technology firms.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
Read more about the US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership:
Tech leaders unite to build Stargate UAE AI hub (Middle East AI News)
New US-UAE agreement sure to accelerate G42’s US plans (Middle East AI News)
UAE-US to launch AI cluster with 5GW data centre (Middle East AI News)