Live updates: Follow the latest on Trump's Gulf trip
UAE and US officials have been "actively engaged" in the lead-up to President Donald Trump’s visit on Thursday in hopes of advancing a broad artificial intelligence and technology partnership, a source told The National.
Another source familiar with the US side confirmed that efforts are under way to try to finalise a deal. "There’s a de-hyphenation between technology, energy and geopolitics in the Middle East … it's a watershed moment," the source explained.
The potential deals come one week after Mr Trump said his administration might soon change a controversial chip export policy that some say stifles the AI aspirations of countries in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Although there are few details from US and Emirati officials about what a deal might look like, global trends in recent months related to the burgeoning AI sector offer potential clues about what is helping to grease the wheels of AI discussions between the UAE, the US and other countries Mr Trump is visiting.
AI and energy grids
Data makes AI chatbots, transcription tools and image-generation software possible. Vast data centres are needed for any country that wants to be a player in the AI space.
Data centre expansion, however, is beginning to be a burden on energy grids all over the world. That is where Gulf countries such as the UAE, with economies that have traditionally been dependent on energy production, can provide unique insights.
Mohammed Soliman, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and technology adviser at McLarty Associates, said the energy needed to fuel AI aspirations gives the UAE and Saudi Arabia leverage.
"I think the real bottleneck for AI is energy," Mr Solimon said. "So what are those countries [UAE and Saudi Arabia] offering? They're offering a quick, massive build-up of AI infrastructure that's able to offer computing as a service to nations around the world."
The UAE's energy offerings make it an attractive place for AI investment. In 2024, the fourth and final unit of the Barakah nuclear power plant was connected to the UAE power grid, making it the largest single source of clean electricity in the Middle East. Earlier this year, the UAE also launched what was described as the world’s first facility that can provide renewable energy at scale around the clock.
With that project, Abu Dhabi clean energy company Masdar plans to combine 5 gigawatts of solar capacity with 19 gigawatt hours of battery storage to produce 1 gigawatt of “uninterrupted clean power”. With those endeavours, among others, Mr Soliman said the region is ripe to help push the envelope on AI development.
UAE built-in advantages
Mr Soliman also pointed out that the UAE, because of its early interest in AI, has an advantage when it comes to striking sizeable deals with the US.
"They were among the first in the world to name a Minister of AI and their sovereign wealth fund put money into chips so many years ago," he said, referring to GlobalFoundries, the semiconductor manufacturer owned by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company.
The UAE's relationships with US technology giants like Microsoft, Nvidia, Google and most recently Cisco are also helping to pave the way for a potential deal to be finalised during Mr Trump's visit.
In 2019, the UAE was among the first countries to open a university dedicated to AI, the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence.
The UAE has also created several large language models, including Jais, along with the Jais Chat mobile app, which is proficient in both Arabic and English.
Saudi Arabia makes progress
Although Saudi Arabia's interest in AI does not stretch as far back as that of the UAE, it is working to use its population size, ample investment interest and penchant for expedited deals to try to become a major player in the sector.
Before Mr Trump's arrival on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund unveiled Humain, an AI endeavour that Saudi officials say will invest in AI factories and data centres in the months and years ahead.
And Nvidia has announced that it will supply the Arab world's largest economy with the necessary graphics processing units and supercomputers to assist with its AI aspirations. Nvidia chief Jensen Huang, OpenAI boss Sam Altman and Palantir chief executive Alex Karp attended the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh, where Mr Trump gave the keynote speech.
Mr Soliman said that while all this bodes well for Saudi Arabia as it tries to flex its AI muscles, it also bodes well for the wider region.
"The way the public investment fund was able to secure those tech partnerships, and then moved quickly from just being investors to being partners, but overall the region as a whole is moving together and the differences will be minimal in a few years," he said.
The five pillars of Islam
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
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Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
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Rating: 4/5
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Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
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The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
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Day 1, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Dimuth Karunaratne had batted with plenty of pluck, and no little skill, in getting to within seven runs of a first-day century. Then, while he ran what he thought was a comfortable single to mid-on, his batting partner Dinesh Chandimal opted to stay at home. The opener was run out by the length of the pitch.
Stat of the day - 1 One six was hit on Day 1. The boundary was only breached 18 times in total over the course of the 90 overs. When it did arrive, the lone six was a thing of beauty, as Niroshan Dickwella effortlessly clipped Mohammed Amir over the square-leg boundary.
The verdict Three wickets down at lunch, on a featherbed wicket having won the toss, and Sri Lanka’s fragile confidence must have been waning. Then Karunaratne and Chandimal's alliance of precisely 100 gave them a foothold in the match. Dickwella’s free-spirited strokeplay meant the Sri Lankans were handily placed at 227 for four at the close.
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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
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The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
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