The Trump administration is considering a deal that could sell hundreds of thousands of American designed artificial intelligence chips to G42, an AI company based in the United Arab Emirates. According to three informed sources, the relevant negotiations are still ongoing.
This negotiation coincides with US President Trump's upcoming visit to the Persian Gulf countries this week, highlighting a significant shift in US technology policy. Meanwhile, this negotiation has also sparked divisions within the Trump administration: on one hand, technology and business officials who hope to facilitate the deal before the president's visit, and on the other hand, national security officials who are concerned about the technology being abused by the UAE.
Insiders say that the Trump administration has begun to proactively reach direct deals with Middle Eastern officials regarding AI chips to strengthen US relations in the region. This approach is different from the Biden administration, which had previously refused similar chip sales due to national security concerns.
In negotiations with G42 and UAE officials, David Sacks, the White House's AI chief, is pushing for an agreement that would allow G42 to obtain chips with almost no regulation. A source familiar with the matter revealed that some of these chips will flow to a collaborative project between G42 and American company OpenAI, while others will be directly provided to G42, but the agreement has not yet been finalized.
Additionally, according to two sources familiar with the situation, the Trump administration is expected to announce another agreement with Saudi officials this week. The agreement will provide the Saudi government and its newly established AI company Humain with tens of thousands of semiconductor chips, as well as technical support from Nvidia and AMD.
During the Biden administration, the United States required a license to purchase AI chips due to their critical role in military and surveillance technology development.
