US approves sale of 35,000 AI chips to UAE’s G42, Saudis’ Humain

The deal is contingent on both companies meeting “rigorous security and reporting requirements”, the Commerce Department says

The US has approved sales of tens of thousands of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors to the Emirati AI firm G42 and regional rival Humain of Saudi Arabia, in a major boost for both Gulf nations’ ambitions to become formidable players in the technology.

Each company is slated to receive AI chips with the computing power equivalent to 35,000 GB300 processors from Nvidia, the chipmaker’s most advanced offering, according to the Commerce Department. The deal is contingent on both companies meeting “rigorous security and reporting requirements”, the agency said on Wednesday (Nov 19), confirming earlier Bloomberg News reporting.

The export approvals fall under the umbrella of broader bilateral deals between the US and each country, following months of negotiations that focused in part on China-related risks. Those agreements include terms to prevent, for example, diversion of sensitive technology to foreign adversary nations, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Those sources declined to elaborate on specific security conditions attached to the chip export approvals for G42 and Humain. The UAE-based firm previously promised to divest from Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies, a move that cleared the way for G42 to forge a US$1.5 billion partnership with Microsoft last year. Humain, meanwhile, has publicly vowed not to purchase Huawei equipment.

Spokespeople for G42 and Humain did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Wall Street Journal reported on the approvals earlier.

The oil-rich United Arab Emirates, which pledged earlier this year to spend US$1.4 trillion in the US, is close to the Trump White House, as is Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who visited Washington this week with the goal of deepening economic relations between the two nations.

Still, some national security hawks in the Trump administration raised concerns about the Gulf nations’ continuing ties to Beijing, highlighting the risk that powerful computing equipment or AI systems could benefit China’s military.

The Bureau of Industry and Security recently approved American companies, including Microsoft and Oracle, to use the critical semiconductors in projects in the UAE. However, the earlier export approvals did not extend to Emirati companies such as G42.

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, said in early November that the software giant had to satisfy “very strict conditions” to receive the approvals.

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In 2024, Microsoft said that it would invest US$1.5 billion in G42, with Smith taking a seat on the Emirati company’s board. Around that time, G42 made commitments to US lawmakers that it would stop buying Chinese equipment and divest from Chinese companies, Bloomberg has reported.

Abu Dhabi’s G42 is chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE national security advisor and member of the royal family. The company operates a range of subsidiaries working on everything from spacecraft to a national genomics project.

G42 is also investing heavily in data centres and cloud computing, angling to seize some of the historic flush of investments going into infrastructure to train and operate AI models. BLOOMBERG

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