Microsoft has announced plans to ship 60,000 advanced artificial intelligence chips produced by Nvidia to the United Arab Emirates, under a deal approved by the US Department of Commerce.
The American technology giant, headquartered in Redmond, Washington, said the export licenses were approved in September under what it described as strict safeguards. The agreement allows Microsoft to deliver thousands of Nvidia’s Grace Blackwell 300 GB chips to be used in data canters being built in the UAE.
The move appears to contrast with recent remarks made by President Donald Trump during an interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes, where he stated that the most advanced chips would not be exported outside the United States.
When asked whether he would permit Nvidia to sell its most advanced processors to China, Trump said he would not, adding that only the United States would retain access to the most sophisticated technologies.
The UAE’s access to these chips is reportedly linked to its commitment to invest 1.4 trillion dollars in American energy and AI projects, a substantial amount given that the nation’s annual GDP is around 540 billion dollars.
Earlier this year, the UAE’s ambassador to the United States, Yousef Al Otaiba, said the agreement sets a new “gold standard” for securing AI models, chips, data, and access.
Microsoft’s announcement forms part of its wider $15.2 billion investment in the UAE’s technology sector. The country ranks among the world’s leaders in AI usage per capita.
The company has already deployed more than 21,000 Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) in the UAE under licenses approved during President Joe Biden’s administration.
According to Microsoft, these GPUs are being used to provide access to advanced AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, open-source software providers, and Microsoft itself.
Follow the latest news on Google News
