US President Donald Trump was due to end a brief trip to Qatar with a speech to US troops on Thursday then fly to the United Arab Emirates, where leaders hope for US help to make the wealthy Gulf nation a global leader in artificial intelligence.
The US has a preliminary agreement with the UAE to allow it to import 500,000 of Nvidia's most advanced AI chips a year, starting this year, it was reported on Wednesday.
The deal would boost the country's construction of data centres vital to developing artificial intelligence models. But the agreement has provoked national security concerns among sectors of the US government, and the terms could change, sources said.
A string of business agreements has been inked during Trump's four-day swing through the Gulf region, including a deal for Qatar Airways to purchase up to 210 Boeing widebody jets, a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the US and $142 billion in US arms sales to the kingdom.
Trump’s reliance on regional heavyweights like Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a calculated move.
AI in focus
The trip has also brought a flurry of diplomacy. Trump made a surprise announcement on Tuesday that the US will remove longstanding sanctions on Syria and subsequently met with Syrian President Ahmed Alsharaa.
On Thursday, Trump will address US troops at the Al Udeid Air Base, which is in the desert southwest of Doha and hosts the largest US military facility in the Middle East. He then flies to Abu Dhabi to meet with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other leaders.
AI is likely to be a focus for the final leg of Trump's trip.
Former President Joe Biden's administration had imposed strict oversight of exports of US AI chips to the Middle East and other regions. Among the Biden administration's fears were that the prized semiconductors would be diverted to China and buttress Beijing's military strength.
Trump has made improving ties with some Gulf countries a key goal of his administration. If all the proposed chip deals in Gulf states, and the UAE in particular, come together, the region would become a third power centre in global AI competition after the United States and China.
