In the global race to build artificial intelligence and compute capability, the UAE has a definite lead.
MGX, a $100 billion sovereign AI investment vehicle, is based here. Stargate UAE is set to become the largest data centre campus outside the US. And the UAE has an agreement with Washington that allows for the import of 500,000 advanced Nvidia chips annually. The question now is, how best to use the country’s AI infrastructure head-start to generate long-term impact and greater prosperity.
As an Emirati pioneer in materials science and nanoengineering, I believe the country has an invaluable opportunity to put its growing AI infrastructure to work in something called materials discovery.
Materials discovery is the process of finding, designing and understanding new materials with useful properties. These materials can include metals, plastics, ceramics, composites, semiconductors, batteries, nanomaterials or entirely new substances engineered at the atomic level.
Almost every major technological advance begins with a breakthrough in materials. From the silicon chips that power computers and smartphones to the lightweight carbon-fibre composites used in aerospace, new materials have repeatedly opened the door to technologies once thought impossible.
But while materials discovery is the foundation of technological innovation, it has traditionally been a slow process. In fact, materials discovery has historically been among the slowest processes in industrial science. Developing new material has typically taken 15-20 years of repeated synthesis, testing and failure. This timescale has been treated as a law of nature. But with the advancement of machine learning and AI, this is no longer the case.
In the past three years, AI has helped cut the time needed to discover new materials to a matter of a few months. It has shifted the process from slow trial and error to a faster prediction-based approach.
Machine-learning models trained on materials databases can predict how a material will perform – including its strength, conductivity, heat and corrosion resistance and catalytic properties – without scientists having to make it first. Researchers can then create the most promising materials in the laboratory for testing. The potential is enormous. Gnome, an AI tool, identified 2.2 million new crystals in less than a month – the equivalent of about 800 years of scientific knowledge.
But what does this have to do with the UAE?
The country’s long-term economic goal is to become a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy, with AI playing a central role in that transition. Advanced materials sit upstream of every strategic supply chain – semiconductors, energy storage, aerospace, water treatment and defence platforms.
For the UAE, prioritising advanced materials discovery is not just a scientific ambition but an economic necessity. New materials can improve productivity in the hydrocarbons sector through more durable pipelines, corrosion-resistant alloys, better catalysts and AI-optimised carbon capture. This can help the UAE get more value from its existing energy assets while cutting costs and emissions.
At the same time, advances in batteries, hydrogen storage and large-scale energy storage would help the UAE meet growing global demand for clean-energy technologies and strengthen its ambitions in AI and the knowledge economy.
Advanced materials are also critical to the UAE’s water security. New materials for next-generation desalination and filtration could help secure a reliable supply of freshwater while using less energy – essential for the country’s continued growth.
In the defence sector, leadership increasingly depends on innovation in lightweight materials, advanced electronics, sensors, protective equipment and autonomous systems – all built on materials science.
So by investing in AI-enabled materials discovery today, the UAE can strengthen its strategic industries, develop exportable intellectual property, attract high-value talent and research and reinforce its position as a global hub for technological innovation and industrial competitiveness.
Using the UAE’s AI infrastructure could also help build the country’s scientific talent. The technology could be integrated into university research programmes, with institutions such as Khalifa University and Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence contributing to AI modelling and materials testing. This would help develop a new generation of local researchers and scientists, while giving the UAE a stronger foothold in the global advanced materials industry, valued at more than $548 billion last year.
The UAE has spent the past decade building the infrastructure for the AI age. The next challenge is deciding how best to use it. Advanced materials discovery could help build stronger industries, a more resilient economy and intellectual property that can be exported around the world. If data is the fuel of AI, materials are the building blocks of technological progress.
The countries that discover tomorrow’s materials will help shape tomorrow’s economy. The UAE should aim to lead both endeavours.
