Microsoft officially approved to send NVIDIA AI chips to the Middle East

Microsoft has received regulatory approval to send NVIDIA AI chips to the UAE, allowing it to increase AI capacity there by fourfold.

Microsoft officially approved to send NVIDIA AI chips to the Middle East
Comment IconFacebook IconX IconReddit Icon
Tech and Science Editor
Published
2-minute read time
TL;DR: NVIDIA has secured a new revenue stream by exporting AI GPUs to the UAE, enabled by Microsoft's government-approved license. This strategic move strengthens US-UAE alliances, counters China's regional influence, and supports AI infrastructure investment of $7.9 billion, promoting equitable AI diffusion across the global south.

A new report has revealed NVIDIA has found a new stream of income by selling its highly sought-after AI GPUs to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Microsoft officially approved to send NVIDIA AI chips to the Middle East 965
2

The report from the Financial Times states Microsoft has received regulatory government approval to send NVIDIA's AI GPUs over to the UAE, with Microsoft's president, Brad Smith, telling the publication on Monday that in September Microsoft became the "first company to receive a license under the Trump administration" to export NVIDIA's AI chips to the UAE.

The approval comes at a time when the US is defiantly against providing China with AI hardware that could give the nation a leg up in the AI race. Moreover, the approval of NVIDIA chips being exported to the UAE is being seen as critical to America's efforts to strengthen the US's alliance with the UAE and reduce China's influence in the region, according to the FT.

"You cannot get those export license unless you're able to meet the requirements that have been imposed by the US government," Smith said. "We earned it by satisfying very stringent cyber security, physical security and other security requirements."

Microsoft now plans to increase its investment in the UAE from $7.3 billion over the past three years to $7/9 billion between 2026 and 2029. Of that $7.9 billion, $5.5 billion will be spent on constructing AI and cloud infrastructure across the region.

Not only is the move to bring US-powered AI infrastructure to the UAE a chessboard tactic to reduce China's influence in the region, but it's also a long-term tactic to bring AI through to what Smith calls the "global south," which stretches from the Middle East and southern Europe to Africa and east Asia.

"We run a risk that AI diffusion will become increasingly uneven," Smith said. "There obviously is a race between the US and China. People often focus for first and foremost on the race for advanced AI model development. But I think the AI diffusion race is probably even more important than the race on the technology frontier. And this is where the stronger relationship between the United States and the United Arab Emirates becomes critical."