US approves Blackwells for G42, HUMAIN; US-Saudi summit news

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!

A massive week for Middle East AI! US AI chip export approvals now allow G42 and HUMAN to buy the equivalent of 35,000 NVIDIA Blackwells each! This news breaks during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington, together with HUMAIN joint announcements with AMD, AWS, Luma AI and Qualcomm! And Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund announces its second strategic investment deal in global AI infrastructure!

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MBS Washington visit

US clears up to 70k Blackwells for G42, HUMAIN

#USA #Saudi #UAE #AIchips – The US Commerce Department has approved exports of up to 35,000 NVIDIA GB300 Blackwell chips each to G42 and Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN. The move aligns with the US AI Action Plan and follows new bilateral AI partnerships, with both firms subject to strict security and reporting requirements. (Middle East AI News)

US–Saudi AI partnership sets export, investment framework

#Saudi #bilterals – Saudi Arabia and the United States have signed a Strategic AI Partnership linking eased export conditions for AI chips to new Saudi investment in the US tech ecosystem. The multi-pillar framework spans semiconductors, AI infrastructure, talent and cross-border innovation. (Middle East AI News)

xAI, HUMAIN to build 500MW Saudi AI data centre

#Saudi #datacentres – xAI has agreed a major partnership with PIF-owned HUMAIN to build a 500-megawatt AI data centre and nationwide compute network. Grok models will be deployed across HUMAIN ONE, supporting Saudi Arabia’s push for high-performance, low-cost national AI capabilities. (Middle East AI News)

AWS, HUMAIN to deploy 150,000 AI accelerators in Riyadh

#Saudi #datacentres – AWS and HUMAIN will deploy up to 150,000 AI accelerators in a new Riyadh “AI Zone,” using NVIDIA GB300 systems and AWS Trainium chips. AWS becomes HUMAIN’s preferred global AI partner, supporting one of the world’s largest AI compute clusters for training, inference and international customers. (Middle East AI News)

Qualcomm to open AI engineering centre with HUMAIN

#Saudi #innovation – Qualcomm and national AI company HUMAIN will open a Qualcomm AI Engineering Centre in Riyadh this December. The facility will support deployment of 200 megawatts of data centre capacity from 2026, offering edge-to-cloud optimisation, model onboarding, customer engineering and ecosystem development. (Middle East AI News)

Luma AI raises $900m, becomes HUMAIN–AMD’s first client

#USA #funding – Luma AI has secured $900 million in Series C funding led by Saudi sovereign AI company HUMAIN, with AMD’s venture capital arm joining the round. Luma becomes the first customer for 100MW of compute from HUMAIN’s $10bn AMD joint venture, supporting Project Halo, a planned 2GW AI supercluster in Saudi Arabia. (Middle East AI News)

Investment

Brookfield launches $100bn global AI infra plan

#Canada #Kuwait #datacentres – Brookfield Asset Management has unveiled a $100 billion global AI infrastructure programme, anchored by a $10 billion fund created with NVIDIA and the Kuwait Investment Authority. The initiative aims to accelerate the build-out of energy and compute capacity worldwide. (Middle East AI News)

HPC

Core42 debuts Maximus-384, world’s No.20 supercomputer

#USA #UAE #supercomputers – Core42 has unveiled the Maximus-384 in Buffalo, powered by over 9,000 AMD Instinct MI300X GPUs and delivering 114.50 petaflops on LINPACK. Hosted at TeraWulf’s Lake Mariner data centre, the system is optimised for large-scale AI model training. (Middle East AI News)

Bilaterals

Seoul, UAE agree deals targeting $35bn in AI, defence

#UAE #bilaterals – South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan signed seven MoUs in Abu Dhabi, projecting $35 billion in economic benefits. The agreements span AI, defence, next-generation nuclear technologies and Korea’s participation in the 1-gigawatt Stargate UAE data-campus project. (Middle East AI News)

South Korea joins UAE’s Stargate UAE initiative

#SouthKorea #datacentres – Seoul has agreed to join the UAE’s Stargate UAE initiative, expanding cooperation on AI infrastructure, supply chains and research. The partnership supports G42’s 1-gigawatt data centre project with US and Japanese partners, reinforcing South Korea’s regional AI ambitions. (Korea Herald)

Funding

Aydi raises $7.5m to launch ORTH agri-engineer

#Egypt #agriculture – Cairo-based Aydi has secured $7.5 million in pre-seed funding to launch ORTH, described as the world’s first AI agricultural engineer. Backed by Daltex and regional investors, the platform provides precision insights on irrigation, fertilisation and pest control to help farmers counter rising costs and climate strain. (Daily News Egypt)

R&D & Innovation

UAE researchers launch UAVBench drone benchmark

#UAE #UAVs – Researchers from Khalifa University and UAE University have released UAVBench, a 50,000-scenario benchmark for evaluating LLM-powered autonomous drones. It mirrors real flight dynamics, environmental variability and safety constraints, helping developers test mission planning and perception systems. (Middle East AI News)

TII links Qibo middleware with NVIDIA CUDA-Q

#UAE #quantum – Technology Innovation Institute (TII) has integrated its open-source Qibo middleware with NVIDIA’s CUDA-Q platform, enabling hybrid quantum-classical experimentation. The move advances the UAE’s quantum computing capabilities and expands developer access to modular quantum workflows. (Middle East AI News)

Morocco launches green data centre and AI institute

#Morocco #innovation – Two agreements signed at the MDSáhara Forum will establish the Igoudar Dajla green data centre, powered entirely by renewables, and the Jazari Institute for AI and Energy Transition. The projects position Dakhla as a national and African innovation hub. (Atalayar)

Electric Mobility

WeRide wins first city-level permit for L4 Robotaxis

#UAE #mobility – WeRide has secured the world’s first city-level approval for fully driverless Level 4 Robotaxi operations outside the US. The permit enables commercial deployment on Uber and TXAI without safety drivers, supporting breakeven as its Middle East fleet targets 1,000 vehicles by 2026. (WeRide)

Qatar tests first unmanned eVTOL passenger flight

#Qatar #airmobility – Qatar has conducted its first unmanned eVTOL passenger flight between Old Doha Port and Katara Cultural Village. Supervised by the Ministry of Transport, the trial assesses regulatory and technical readiness for integrating low-carbon urban air mobility into the national network. (The Peninsula)

Education

Crescent Petroleum, Edraak launch AI employment track

#UAE #education – Crescent Petroleum and Edraak have introduced a new AI for Employment specialisation within the Career Compass Pathway. The Arabic-language programme aims to equip young people across the Arab world with workplace-ready AI and digital skills. (Khaleej Times)

Events

Saudi Arabia sets 2026 date for next Global AI Summit

#Saudi #technology – Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA) has confirmed that the fourth Global AI Summit (GAIN 2026) will take place next September. The event will gather international leaders to advance Saudi Arabia’s AI strategy and accelerate digital transformation across key national sectors. (SPA)

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[ This newsletter was both AI edited & human edited ]