US President Donald Trump has begun a visit to the United Arab Emirates that is likely to deepen cooperation on artificial intelligence after hailing plans by Doha to invest $10 billion in a US military facility during a trip to Qatar.
Before he departs for the UAE on the latest stage of a tour of wealthy Gulf states, Trump said in a speech to US troops at the Al Udeid Air Base southwest of Doha that defence purchases signed by Qatar on Wednesday are worth $42 billion.
He then flew to Abu Dhabi on Thursday, where he was met at the airport by President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the two leaders visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, its white minarets and domes impressive in the late-afternoon light.
"It is so beautiful," Trump told reporters inside the mosque, which he said had been closed for the day.
"First time they closed it. It's in honour of the United States. Better than in honour of me. Let's give it to the country. That's a great tribute."
The UAE's leaders want US help to make their 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, Reuters reported.
The deal would boost the UAE'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.
The two countries have finalised a technology framework agreement that was expected to be signed later on Thursday, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The agreement requires commitments on both sides to the security of technology, the source said, without immediately providing details.
