SAN JOSE: Microsoft said on Monday that it will ship more than 60,000 of Nvidia's most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips to the United Arab Emirates as part of an agreement approved by the US Commerce Department.
The licences, which were granted in September under what Microsoft called "stringent safeguards," will enable Nvidia's potent GB300 Grace Blackwell processors to be exported for use in data centres in the United Arab Emirates.
The move appeared to contradict US President Donald Trump's recent statements that the United States would not export its most cutting-edge AI chips overseas.
The agreement is a component of Microsoft's US$15.2bil (RM63.9bil) investment in AI and technology infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates. With licences acquired during the Biden administration, the company claimed to already have over 21,000 Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) operating in the nation.
According to Microsoft, the new chips will enable AI models created by OpenAI, Anthropic and other developers, increasing the region's access to state-of-the-art computing resources. The UAE's commitment to invest US$1.4 trillion (RM5.8 trillion) in US energy and AI projects is linked to its access to the technology. – dpa
