Energy -rich Gulf states compete to become centers of infrastructure for electricity -consuming artificial intelligence, betting on this technology to operate everything from economic diversification to government services, according to the British Financial Times.
According to a newspaper report, it highlighted the deals that were revealed during the visit of the US President Donald Trump For the region last month, the aspirations of Saudi Arabia and the UAE until they become two great powers in the field of artificial intelligence.
This includes a partnership between the Giant Invidia Electronic Chips and the Homes Company, a newly established artificial intelligence group supported by the Saudi government, and it has ambitious plans to launch an investment fund of $ 10 billion and secure investments from American technology companies.
Abu Dhabi has announced a huge group of data centers for Oben AI and other American companies as part of its project (Stargate), and the emirate, which runs 1.7 trillion dollars of sovereign wealth funds, is investing billions of dollars through the MGX MGX, and the University of Mohammed bin Zayed opens its artificial intelligence in Silicon Valley.
The newspaper quoted the colleague at the Carnegie International Peace Corporation, Sam Winter Levy, “The Gulf states have capital, energy and political will,” adding: “The only thing that these countries did not have is the chips and talents. Now (after visiting Trump) may possess chips.”
Skills availability challenge
Experts warn that the ambitions of the vast region in the field of artificial intelligence may face challenges, as both countries lack the skilled workforce they possess Silicon Valley Or Shanghai, and scientific research outputs are late for other countries.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are investing in artificial intelligence, and they depend on fast -developed technology to help them enhance economic diversity, and reduce dependence on returns Fossil fuel The volatile.
The two countries want to host the huge data centers needed to train and operate strong artificial intelligence models, and Humain plans to build “artificial intelligence factories” supported by hundreds of thousands of NVIDIA chips over the next five years.
AD AMD, American chips, has pledged to provide chips and software for data centers “extending from Saudi Arabia to US“In a $ 10 billion project.
While the database providers that make heat usually choose the cooler areas, the Gulf states believe that the abundance of land and cheap energy sings the scorching summer temperatures.
The weakness of the leading companies
Despite all their ambitions, the Gulf states do not have a leading company that develops artificial intelligence models, such as Openai, Deepseek, or French Mistral, and lacks a high focus of research talents in the field of artificial intelligence, according to the data of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
To attract the best talents in the field of artificial intelligence, the Gulf states attract companies and researchers in the field artificial intelligence From the outside with low taxes, long -term “golden visas” and lenient regulatory regulations.
The data gathered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development from LinkedIn for jobs shows that the third highest level of migration of persons with artificial intelligence skills between 2019 and 2024 was to the Emirates, as the Gulf state came after other low -tax countries such as Luxembourg and Cyprus.
The Gulf states are seeking to establish partnerships with Western parties to enhance their technological aspirations, and the UAE AI Group G42 – G42 announced last week its partnership with Mistral to develop platforms and infrastructure for artificial intelligence. It also established a partnership with the American chips industry company, which runs its giant computers, and last year, it used Microsoft, which invested $ 1.5 billion to buy a minority stake.
Chinese challenge
American experts warn that American technology leaks to ChinaMany appear to be in the American security establishment concerned about relations with the Gulf states if they become a competitor to artificial intelligence.
The newspaper quoted the chief technology analysis consultant at the Rand Foundation, Jimmy Godrich: “The concern is that (the Gulf states), in its endeavor, resort to competitiveness, to shorten the road and the use of many Chinese workers or even Chinese companies … This opens the door to security risks,” the newspaper quoted the chief technology analysis consultant at the Rand Foundation, Jimmy Godrich.
He added that Chinese companies may resort to circumventing the restrictions imposed on American technology.