UAE and Saudi Arabia among world's top three AI superpowers, analysis finds

Study by US data centre company focuses on supercomputing power and government readiness

Guests entertained by a robot at the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) inaugural commencement ceremony in Abu Dhabi. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

The UAE and Saudi Arabia are among the top three artificial intelligence superpowers in the world, a report by a US data centre company has found.

The US led the rankings, followed by the UAE and then Saudi Arabia. The Gulf states placed ahead of South Korea, France, India, China, the UK, Finland and Germany in the analysis, compiled by TRG Datacenters, a Texas-based company focused on national AI supercomputing power, AI company activity and government AI readiness.

"The country [UAE] has over 188,000 AI chips and a total power capacity of 6.4K megawatts," the report said.

TRG Datacenters has compared AI power distribution around the world to identify top countries. Photo: TRG Datacenters

The TRG analysis also factored in a supercomputer data set from research institute Epoch AI, along with statistics for total power capacity.

"The battle for AI supremacy is being fought on multiple fronts and raw computing power is just one piece of a much larger puzzle," a TRG spokesman said. While some countries are pouring resources into building supercomputers and data centres, others are prioritising the creation of regulatory frameworks "that attract international AI research and development", he added.

The strong performance of the UAE and Saudi Arabia in the rankings is a sign that AI aspirations in the Gulf are starting to pay dividends. The analysis comes weeks after a report from Counterpoint Research showed Dubai outpacing San Francisco in overall AI adoption. Abu Dhabi ranked eighth in the study.

Counterpoint Research has ranked the top AI cities in the world. Photo: Counterpoint Research

In June, a report from online learning platform Coursera found the UAE leads the Arab world for AI maturity. The UAE has long been working to become a major player in the sector. The country’s push has resulted in the establishment of start-ups, partnerships and investments from industry leaders including Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI.

In 2019, the UAE announced the establishment of a university dedicated to AI, the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence. Two years earlier, the UAE was among the first countries in the world to appoint an AI minister.

In July of this year, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, introduced a new classification system with icons to indicate when AI was used in research and publications.

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed and US President Donald Trump witnessed the unveiling of plans for a new 5GW UAE-US AI Campus in Abu Dhabi during the US leader's visit to Qasr Al Watan. Photo: Talal Al Kaissi

The UAE's AI credentials received another major boost in May during US President Donald Trump's visit to Abu Dhabi, when he witnessed the unveiling of plans for a 5GW UAE-US AI Campus.

The campus is considered by many analysts to be among the largest AI infrastructure projects in the world and could help ensure the UAE is a major player in the AI space for years to come.