Tension with Iran will not affect the long-term AI aspirations of countries across Middle East, technology policy experts said during an event in Washington.
The panel discussion – called AI, the Gulf and the US – was hosted by the Middle East Institute think tank on Thursday and touched on the attacks Iran launched on Gulf states in response to US and Israeli strikes on February 28. Data centres were among the targets of the Iranian attacks.
Mohammed Soliman, a technology analyst and senior fellow at the institute, said that although the war would lead to discussions about security measures at data centres, it would not affect the plans of countries with lofty AI ambitions, such as the UAE. Fundamentals including capital and political commitments from Gulf states and their relationship with the US had not changed, he added.
Companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, OpenAI and Google, that have committed to having a presence in the Middle East continue to pursue regional AI projects, Mr Soliman said. “Those companies aren't going to walk away and any business in the Gulf has priced that risk in,” he said.
Data centre construction shows no sign of slowing. That includes Stargate UAE, one of the world's largest computing infrastructure projects. It is to become part of a larger 5GW AI campus and the initiative remains on track with companies such as OpenAI, Oracle and Nvidia fully committed.
In March, the UAE said it was fully committed to its $1.4 trillion investment and economic framework with the US.
In May, the UAE announced it had received the first shipments of Nvidia's highly sought-after CPUs and GPUs.
Mr Soliman said the threat from Iran was likely to lead to more innovative plans in the region for critical technology infrastructure, including underground data centres.
“Look at Ukraine,” he said, referring to the invasion of Russian forces. “They've doubled their data centre capacity while dealing with those massive attacks.”
Samuel Hammond, director for AI policy at the Foundation for American Innovation, also discussed whether Iranian aggression would dampen tech plans in the Middle East.
He addressed claims that the appetite of the US to build and invest in AI infrastructure projects in the region might be diminished by the Iran conflict.
“In some ways … this has fortified the case for these partnerships,” he said, noting that the UAE received a vote of confidence when it received its first shipment of Nvidia GPUs. “The UAE became a test case to prove a model wherein we can export these chips in enormous quantities, and it's a high water mark for the kind of security that is possible."
