With energy and cash to spare, the Middle East’s wealthy Gulf states are attempting to position themselves as the next global AI hub. CNBC's Emma Graham reports on the latest moves in Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Doha.

Abu Dhabi

Gulf monarchies, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, are making significant investments in artificial intelligence, aiming to establish themselves as leading hubs for the technology. The UAE recently secured export licenses for advanced AI chips, enabling large-scale projects like Stargate UAE, backed by OpenAI, G42, and MGX.

Saudi Arabia is advancing its AI strategy through the Humane initiative, supported by its sovereign wealth fund, while Qatar is investing across the AI sector to integrate AI into all government facilities. These efforts are supported by partnerships with major Western technology firms and are part of a broader strategy to diversify their economies and expand technological capabilities.

Inside the Gulf’s trillion-dollar AI gamble

With energy and cash to spare, Gulf monarchies are positioning their countries and their capital to take a lead in the AI race, both acquiring and building the latest technology. So we're lucky to have CNBC's Middle East Bureau Chief Emma Graham with us, who took a deep dive into the strategies of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar. Emma, how significant was this week's announcement on Microsoft export license for the UAE? Manisha, it's so good to see you. Thank you so much for having me this morning on Access Middle East. Well, it's really significant, Manisha, and this is the first time that export licenses have been lifted for a company like NVIDIA to the UAE, and this has been an ongoing process for the UAE to really get the right to have these chips that they want to use to power their massive data centers. They're building Stargate UAE here, which is a really big project backed by OpenAI, G42, and MGX, and this was announced during Trump's visit in May. And surrounding all of that are these export licenses that were really put in place, especially and heightened during the Biden administration. But the Trump administration is really keen to lift this, to spread U.S. technology around the world. So it's really interesting. And I'll start with the UAE, Manisha, and this is such a great piece. I really, really would ask our listeners to head to CNBC.com. It's truly immersive. It's taken months because every time we wanted to publish this piece, there would be a new amount of news. The news here in the region on AI is just moving so fast. The UAE, though, and we'll start here, I'm sitting in Dubai. It's such an interesting place to be talking about AI because really they were talking about AI before it was cool. That's a Sam Altman quote, and I included that in my piece. And it is true. Abu Dhabi really was talking about artificial intelligence before it was cool. They have founded G42, and they were one of the first in the Gulf to really start this AI company. Saudi Arabia, you just mentioned, has Humane. That's their kind of AI engine. And then I'll talk a little bit about Qatar in a moment. Qatar doesn't have a specific AI company, but really interestingly, the UAE has this G42 company. It's private. It's chaired by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed's brother, Sheikh Tahnoon. And he has a lot of control over many different parts of the state here. But it's really interesting, this G42 company, because it has control over sort of the AI vision of this country. Together, G42 and Mubadala created MGX, which is targeting 100 billion in AUM over the next few years. And that's a massive investment vehicle. So a lot to talk about. And we're going to be following the story really closely. But all of this Microsoft announcement really pushing forward the UAE's ability to kind of make these ambitions happen, Manisha. Yeah, I'm really excited to see your work. Emma, what about Saudi Arabia and Qatar? What did their plans to become AI hubs actually look like? Thanks, Manisha. It's great. It's fantastic. You know, it's just such a great time to be in the region. So I'm going to keep covering this and I'll make sure that that we can talk about it in the months to come. But Saudi Arabia and Qatar as well have a really interesting strategy. Obviously, these are, you know, massive sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, nearly one trillion dollars, the PIF backing Humane. And you just read the Humane Brain. Really, really interesting story there. Humane was founded just before Trump came to visit the Gulf back in May. And Humane has made some really interesting announcements. You saw last week at FII, we were covering this massive investment summit in Riyadh. Qualcomm CEO was there. He spoke to our colleague, Sarah Eisen. And that was just on the heels of an announcement that Qualcomm is set to start their own AI chips. And then they made an announcement with Humane. So they partnered with Humane. And Humane is really interestingly partnering with lots and lots of Western players. And you see the Microsoft deal. It could be a signal of what's to come with these export licenses, because there was a lot of concern, as you know, Manisha, with how can we ensure that these American chips are going to get to the Gulf and be safe? They're not going to get into the hands of China. And of course, we saw Jensen Huang speaking this week, saying to the FT, of course, he was worried that China could win the AI race. So this is a worry for the United States. But then the likes of David Sachs really saying we need to spread American technology. So really, really interesting story for all of these Gulf states. Now, Qatar, interestingly, is a really fascinating one. I spoke to the QIA, the sovereign wealth fund there in Qatar. They don't have a specific AI champion like Humane or like G42 here in the UAE, but they are investing across the AI stack. And Qatar has a really interesting story to tell as well. They're really targeting to make every government facility and every single thing in that country AI enabled. So more to come. Please do head to CNBC.com to read this story. It'll take a little time, but I think you'll learn a lot. Thank you so much. I'm sure we will. Emma, thank you so much for that roundup. And yes, as Emma was saying, you can read the full story, the Gulf's trillion dollar AI gamble. It's on our digital arm, CNBC.com.

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