Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, with Microsoft vice chairman and president Brad Smith in Abu Dhabi. Photo: Abu Dhabi Media Office
Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, with Microsoft vice chairman and president Brad Smith in Abu Dhabi. Photo: Abu Dhabi Media Office
Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, with Microsoft vice chairman and president Brad Smith in Abu Dhabi. Photo: Abu Dhabi Media Office
The tech firm made the pledge as it revealed it had secured licences to export advanced Nvidia A100, H100 and H200 GPUs to the Emirates, in a landmark moment for the UAE's AI ambitions.
The new investment of $7.9 billion follows the financial commitment of $7.3 billion in the UAE between 2023 and the end of 2025.
Details of the investment were revealed on Monday during a meeting between Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, and Brad Smith, vice chairman and president of Microsoft.
The tech company said the amount would be invested to expand AI and digital infrastructure, improve the skills of local talent through training programmes, and research and development initiatives.
Microsoft said it has worked with the US and UAE governments to ensure compliance with cyber security, export control and responsible AI standards.
The investment highlights the global confidence in the UAE's long-term economic vision to build a diversified, knowledge-based and technology-driven economy, Abu Dhabi Media Office quoted Sheikh Khaled as saying.
“This is not money raised in the UAE. It’s money we’re spending in the UAE,” Mr Smith said. “We’re focused not just on growing our business, but also on contributing to the local economy. This involves bringing together three critical factors – technology, talent and trust.”
Beginning in 2023 and through to the end of this year, Microsoft will have invested and spent more than $7.3 billion in the UAE, it said.
This includes its $1.5 billion equity investment in UAE AI and cloud company G42 last year, as well as more than $4.6 billion in capital expenses for its AI and cloud data centres in the country, and more than $1.2 billion in local operating expenses and the cost of goods sold.
From the start of 2026 to the end of 2029, Microsoft said it will spend more than $7.9 billion in the UAE.
“This includes more than $5.5 billion in capital expenses for continuing and planned expansion of our AI and cloud infrastructure, including new steps we will share publicly in Abu Dhabi this week,” the company said.
It also includes almost $2.4 billion in planned local operating expenses and the cost of goods sold.
In the past decade, the UAE has invested heavily in AI as it seeks to be a leader in the sector as part of its economic diversification strategy. In May this year, Mr Smith also told the US Congress that the country should try to emulate the UAE's approach to AI.
He praised Abu Dhabi's Tamm government services AI assistant, which acts as a one-stop shop for government services such as transport, health care, housing and police services. "We need to bring it to America," he told a Senate commerce, science and transport committee hearing, referring to the need for apps that simplify the process of renewing driving licences and obtaining various forms, as well as other services.
In May, the UAE and the US unveiled plans for a new 5GW UAE-US AI Campus in Abu Dhabi. The site will include 5 gigawatts of capacity for AI data centres, providing a regional platform from which US hyperscalers will be able to offer latency-friendly services.
The Commerce Department described the AI campus as one of the largest outside the US, and said it would be home to large and small companies that can help to “leverage the capacity for regional compute with the ability to serve the Global South".
The almost 26-square-kilometre campus is being built by G42 in Abu Dhabi and operated in partnership with several US companies. “Abu Dhabi and the UAE are firmly establishing themselves as global centres for AI innovation and adoption, embedding technology into every facet of government, society, and the economy," Khaldoon Al Mubarak, secretary general of the Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology Council, said on Monday.
"This investment [by Microsoft] also strengthens the deep and enduring technology partnership between the UAE and the US, reflecting our shared commitment to harness AI for sustainable growth, economic diversification and opportunity for future generations.”
On Sunday, Microsoft signed deals with Adnoc to integrate AI across the oil company's value chain and power the US tech company's global AI and data centre growth. Adnoc and Microsoft's expanded agreement will include Masdar and XRG, which will develop sustainable energy projects and infrastructure to drive the expansion of AI and data centres, Adnoc said on Sunday.
Adnoc and Microsoft will co-develop and embed AI agents to drive autonomous operations and boost efficiency, the companies said.
AI for good
Microsoft has also set up a global engineering development centre and the Microsoft AI for Good Lab in Abu Dhabi to support research and innovation in responsible AI and large-scale models.
In collaboration with UAE government entities and educational institutions, Microsoft has also pledged to skill one million people in the UAE by 2027, including 120,000 government employees, 175,000 students, and 39,000 teachers.
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The Florida Project
Director: Sean Baker
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Marwan Lutfi says the core fundamentals that drive better payment behaviour and can improve your credit score are:
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Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
Scoreline
Switzerland 5
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1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
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