Microsoft announced Monday that it will ship over 60,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence chips to the United Arab Emirates, following approval from the U.S. Commerce Department. The deal, part of Microsoft’s broader $15.2 billion technology investment in the UAE, underscores the nation’s growing role as a hub for AI innovation.
The shipment includes Nvidia’s cutting-edge GB300 Grace Blackwell processors, which will power local data centers and support access to AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, open-source developers, and Microsoft’s own platforms. The company emphasized that the licenses were approved under “stringent safeguards” in September to ensure compliance with U.S. national security standards.
The announcement appears to contrast remarks made by President Donald Trump in a recent 60 Minutes interview, where he stated that the U.S. would not allow the export of its most advanced AI chips to other countries, including China. Despite this, the UAE’s deal is reportedly tied to its pledge to invest $1.4 trillion in U.S. energy and AI projects — a substantial figure relative to its $540 billion GDP.
Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE ambassador to the U.S., hailed the collaboration as setting a “Gold Standard” for securing AI chips, data, and access. Microsoft noted it already operates over 21,000 Nvidia GPUs in the UAE from earlier approvals under the Biden administration, further expanding its AI infrastructure.
The agreement signals both nations’ strategic alignment on technology development and represents one of the largest U.S.-approved AI hardware deployments outside the country, reinforcing the UAE’s ambitions to lead in global AI adoption.
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