The United States granted the United Arab Emirates increased access to AI chips and servers, in recognition of the UAE’s support in advancing national security interests, including Operation Epic Fury, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced on Friday.
The UAE’s status has been upgraded under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), which will eliminate restrictions on support for the UAE’s drone programs and will make the UAE eligible for license-free exports, re-exports, and in-country transfers of certain military items.
It will also allow the UAE government and certain companies to receive advanced computing items in the UAE without licenses that can take months to obtain.
Therefore, the country’s main AI company, G42, which is run by the brother of the UAE’s president and UAE national-security adviser, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, will be able to buy chips freely from companies such as Nvidia for at least the next nine months.
Expanded access could be worth billions
It will also remove limits on US companies such as Microsoft and OpenAI that have planned data centers in the UAE, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
According to the report, experts say that the change to the chip access alone could be worth billions of dollars.
In exchange, BIS stated that the UAE has committed to make matching investments in US AI digital infrastructure buildout.
UAE officials have indicated that G42, controlled by UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, plans to become a US company, primarily owned by US investors, WSJ cited several people familiar with the discussions as saying.
Tahnoon and other UAE officials have lobbied for chip access for years and approached the White House directly after the start of Operation Epic Fury, looking to India as an example of a country that gained elevated trade benefits after becoming a major defense partner of the US in 2016, WSJ wrote.
Decision sparks controversy over security
Critics of the move argue that allowing the UAE greater access to the chips could harm the US in the AI race against China, and others expressed concern over the security of advanced computing power built outside the US, according to WSJ.
“The UAE has been a great partner with Iran, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve demonstrated the capability to keep a data center secure,” WSJ cited Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, as saying.
Others, including members of Congress such as California Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove, expressed worries over financial ties between Tahnoon and Trump.
“It smells like it could be an illegal pay-to-play scheme,” Kamlager-Dove said on Tuesday.
However, the White House has denied any conflicts of interest, the WSJ wrote.
The UAE will also be able to receive certain commercial satellites, spacecraft, and items that can be used for military purposes, oil and gas production, desalination, and civil power generation without a license, according to the Department of Commerce.
This “will support key UAE commercial and infrastructure needs and better equip the UAE defense establishment to support US interests in the Middle East,” according to a department statement.
“The status is warranted in the ongoing US-UAE military partnership and the UAE’s commitment to preventing the diversion and misuse of sensitive US technology,” the statement added.