U.S. greenlights high-end AI chips for Gulf allies amid tech rivalry with China

Saudi Arabia’s artificial intelligence company Humain announced on Wednesday a landmark partnership with U.S. chipmaker Nvidia, after the U.S. government authorized the export of advanced AI processors to the Gulf kingdom.

The deal was unveiled during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington this week, where the de facto Saudi leader concluded several strategic agreements with the United States, including what the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) described as a “strategic AI partnership.”

A Massive AI Infrastructure Rollout

Humain said the agreement with Nvidia lays the foundation for an “expanded partnership” that will see the deployment of up to 600,000 next-generation Nvidia AI systems over the next three years.
The company also plans to build Nvidia-powered data centers in Saudi Arabia, while expanding its activities to include U.S.-based AI data centers built on the same technology.

“This partnership represents a major step toward establishing Saudi Arabia as a global AI hub,” Humain said in a statement.

Washington Gives Green Light to Advanced Chip Exports

The U.S. Commerce Department confirmed Wednesday that it had authorized the export of Nvidia processors both to Humain and to G42, an Abu Dhabi-based AI and cloud computing firm.
The two companies will be allowed to purchase up to 35,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, some of the most advanced chips available on the market.

Exports of such high-end processors are tightly controlled by Washington, which fears they could be diverted to China, its chief strategic and technological rival.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE Race for AI Leadership

Founded in May 2025, Humain is majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s powerful sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) — the financial engine behind the kingdom’s massive transformation projects and economic diversification plan.

The UAE’s G42, which received a $1.5 billion investment from Microsoft in 2024, is led by UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, brother of the country’s president.
The company is currently building a 1-gigawatt data center in the Emirates for OpenAI, in collaboration with Oracle, Cisco, Nvidia and SoftBank.

The approval of chip exports and the deepening of U.S.–Gulf partnerships in artificial intelligence mark a new chapter in geopolitical tech diplomacy.
Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE aim to position themselves at the forefront of AI development, while the United States seeks to shape the global landscape of emerging technologies,  without enabling China’s rise.