UAE and US working to 'get chips moving' after AI deal
This follows President Donald Trump's visit to Abu Dhabi in May, when he announced the US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership, which included plans for a 5GW UAE-US AI Campus.
Those plans allow for the UAE to obtain powerful CPUs and GPUs from the US which are necessary to build up AI infrastructure.
Once completed, part of the campus, dubbed Stargate UAE, will be among the largest AI data centres in the world.
Security guarantees to protect the UAE AI technology from falling into the wrong hands were are major aspect of the deal.
Also bolstering the deal, Mr Trump's much-anticipated AI plan, unveiled on Wednesday, seeks to reduce regulatory barriers in place to build up AI infrastructure in the US, while pushing for increasing the prevalence of US AI technology around the world.
That bodes well for the UAE, and other countries with similar AI aspirations.
It's also a sharp contrast to the former president Joe Biden's policies. His administration sought tighter export controls on US chips to prevent them from being used in China.
'The UAE welcomes President Trump's AI Action Plan and is ready to fast track our strategic AI partnership with the US,' Yousef Al Otaiba, UAE Minister of State and ambassador to the US, said on Wednesday.
'As a trusted partner, we are working closely with leading US companies to adopt and scale American technology in the UAE and beyond.'
Some pundits aren't sold however, and they're trying to exert influence to slow the US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership.
In an opinion article in The Washington Post, Christopher Chivvis and Sam Winter-Levy from the Carnegie Endowment, a US-based think tank, expressed concern about China somehow getting access to the US AI technology, among other things.
'To now approve the offshoring of the data centres that will house so many of the resulting chips to another conflict-prone region would be a major unforced error – one that will prove difficult to reverse,' they wrote.
The UAE has addressed this by committing to a $1.4 trillion investment framework for AI infrastructure in the US.
Regardless, the Wall Street Journal also reported that some in the White House have sought to take a closer look at the recently announced UAE deal, amid concerns about US technology diffusion.
But last week, the White House cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence adviser beat back those concerns, and reaffirmed the US partnership with the UAE.
'These are countries that are long-standing partners and allies of the US going back many years,' White House AI chief David Sacks said during a round-table discussion at the Pennsylvania Energy and AI Summit, referring to the UAE.
Mr Sacks added that the Trump administration thought that if US technology wasn't used in AI projects around the world, China-owned Huawei would step in to fill the vacuum.
'We don't want to create demand for Huawei,' he explained, also describing some of the chip smuggling scenarios that have become prevalent in media reports as quixotic.
He said the newest standard data centres technology hardware is approximately 2.4m tall, with servers weighing 1,600kg, and that it's 'very easy to see' if they're being transported.
'I know that our Gulf State partners would honour our security agreement,' he said just hours before President Trump appeared at the event in Pennsylvania.
'This is ultimately a trust-but-verify situation, and all we have to do is send an inspector to a data centre and they can count the racks,' Mr Sacks explained, reiterating that he felt the scenarios of AI hardware smuggling were 'blown wildly out of proportion.'
Meanwhile, there's no indication from the White House or Department of Commerce, which is ultimately responsible for allowing the export of US technology, that criticism of the UAE deal is gaining traction.
In a statement to The National, the UAE ambassador expressed continued optimism about the AI plans with the US announced back in May.
'Signed just 60 days ago in Abu Dhabi, the UAE-US investment and Ai partnership will deliver enormous benefits to both countries,' Mr Al Otaiba said.
'High level teams have been actively engaging to advance the agreement, to get chips moving and to accelerate technology co-operation.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
US asked Saudi Arabia to send missile interceptors to Israel during Iran conflict. Riyadh refused
Israel was running low on Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) interceptors as Iranian ballistic missiles slammed into Israeli cities in June. The US asked Saudi Arabia to turn over interceptors to help the US ally in need. But Riyadh's response was "no", two US officials familiar with the talks told Middle East Eye. "During the war, we asked everyone to donate," one official told MEE. "When that didn't work, we tried deal-making. It wasn't aimed at one country." But Saudi Arabia was well placed to help Israel, and US officials have been keen to emphasise that Iran is a threat to them as well as Israel. The US has already deployed air defence systems to the oil-rich Gulf state, which until recently was targeted by Houthi missile and drone attacks. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters As Iran and Israel were fighting it out, the kingdom was preparing to receive the first THAAD battery it purchased with its own sovereign funds. In fact, the battery was inaugurated by the Saudi military on 3 July, just nine days after Israel and Iran reached a ceasefire. Just before the inauguration, US officials were concerned that a massive Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israel would drain the US stockpile of interceptors to a "horrendous level". Middle East Eye was the first to report that Israel was rapidly depleting the US's stockpile of ballistic missile interceptors as well as Israel's arsenal of Arrow interceptors. The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian later confirmed MEE's report. The Guardian later reported in July that after the conflict, the US was only left with about 25 percent of the Patriot missile interceptors that planners at the Pentagon assess are needed for all US military operations globally. A US official confirmed that classified number to MEE. The US also fired the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) mounted on Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers to defend Israel. Iran receives Chinese surface-to-air missile batteries after Israel ceasefire deal Read More » Despite Israel's three-tiered air defence system being backed up by additional American firepower, Iran was able to send missiles into Israeli cities right up until the ceasefire was reached. The Telegraph reported that Iranian missiles directly hit five Israeli military facilities. Analysts say that the American and Israeli air defence systems held up better than some military planners anticipated, given the scale of Iran's barrages, but the Islamic Republic was able to exploit the system's weak spot, particularly as the conflict dragged on. "The weakness is that it is an enterprise where you are at risk of running out of your magazine depth. We only have so many interceptors and the ability to produce them," Douglas Birkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, previously told MEE. Amid the shortage, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that some US officials even discussed taking THAAD interceptors purchased by Saudi Arabia and diverting them to Israel. One US official confirmed to MEE that the talks took place after Saudi Arabia had rejected polite US overtures and deal-making efforts. Both US officials also told MEE that the US asked the United Arab Emirates to share interceptors with Israel. Neither would confirm if any arrived. The UAE was the first non-US country to purchase and operate the THAAD, which it activated in 2016. Iran's success breaching Israel's sophisticated air defences did not go unnoticed in the more lightly defended Gulf states, experts say. 'Israel paid a price' Scrambling the globe for interceptors has become a common job for a select few US officials as its allies, Israel and Ukraine, both face adversaries who rely on much cheaper ballistic missiles and drones. The US Department of Defense's office for policy has taken the lead in trying to cajole and coax US allies to share interceptors with Israel. The efforts were led by Christopher Mamaux, who is deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Global Partnerships. But Saudi Arabia's refusal to help Israel will sting officials in Washington. Before the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, the US was working to integrate Israel's air defence system with Gulf allies in part of a much hyped "Middle East Nato". Instead, Gulf states sat out the Israel-Iran conflict and felt "vindicated" they had revived relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, analysts in the region told MEE. 'Vindicated': Unscathed by war, Gulf states look to capitalise on Israel and Iran's losses Read More » The Trump administration still says it wants to broker a normalisation deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. But Riyadh and other Arab states are increasingly seeing Israel as an expansionist military power to check - not aid in a time of need. For example, Saudi Arabia lobbied the US for Syrian soldiers to deploy to southern Syria this month. Riyadh was upset that Israel launched strikes on Syrian government forces amid the sectarian clashes in the country. As the smoke clears from the Israel-Iran conflict, the flaws in Israel's missile defence system are being studied, and Iran is rebuilding its air defences with help from China, MEE has reported. As one Arab diplomat told MEE: "From our perspective the war ended well. Israel experienced the price of confronting a strong nation state." And Iran, trying to regroup from a blistering Israeli bombing campaign, is also becoming more dependent on the Gulf, too. "On Israel, the Saudi position has hardened in light of unchecked Israeli actions in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank. With Iran now weakened, the kingdom is repositioning closer to Turkey & may even do the same with Iran," Firas Maksad, Eurasia Group's managing director for the Middle East and North Africa, recently wrote on X.
Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
Academics fear Columbia University's deal with Trump has wider ramifications
The US government intends to fine several universities it accuses of failing to stop antisemitism on campus in exchange for federal funding freezes to be lifted, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The strategy would see Harvard, Cornell, Duke, Northwestern and Brown universities targeted, according to a White House official, with Harvard being the main focus. All of the universities are currently in talks with President Donald Trump's administration over accusations by a federal task force committee that they have allowed antisemitism to fester on their campuses. The move comes after the administration successfully extracted $200m from Columbia to settle allegations that it violated Title VI by failing to address harassment of Jewish students, in exchange for restoring its federal grants. Now, the administration is looking to widen the net to other institutions and reportedly hopes to garner much more money from Harvard, which has an endowment of $53.2bn. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Critics believe the agreement with Columbia sets a dangerous precedent, and that these tactics can be used to change the academic landscape. Former Columbia University law professor Katherine Franke said that Columbia bent over backwards to appease the government by implementing the agreement in advance for months. This included adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism, circumventing its senate to change the University Judicial Board rules/composition, and creating a new provostial position to monitor certain departments. Columbia University to pay $220m, undertake major reforms in bid to restore federal funding Read More » "It's an unusual tactic in normal times, to implement the terms of a settlement voluntarily before the full agreement is reached," she said. "But these are not normal times, and Columbia has shown itself more than willing to bend a knee to the Trump administration in the hopes that doing so will make things less bad." Harvard University has put up more of a fight and is currently suing the Trump administration in federal court, with one lawsuit claiming that the administration's freezing of more than $2bn in federal research money is illegal. Harvard is also being penalised by being cut off from future grants. Franke warned that the agreement was a slippery slope and that the government would weaponise the spectre of antisemitism to dismantle the institution. "This agreement is not the end of the story… it is merely the start of the next phase of the administration's campaign to use Columbia as an example for other universities. They won't let up, and the 'agreement' gives them all the power to keep weaponising the specter of antisemitism to dismantle a world-class university." Undermining the fightback Columbia's agreement with the Trump administration is also being seen as a move that undermines the fightback from Harvard and students and activists on campuses. A student, who wished to be anonymous and is a member of the pro-Palestine group Students for Justice in Palestine at Wesleyan College in Georgia, said: "What Harvard has done, at least legally, to combat the Trump administration is now being undercut by Colombia's capitulation. I think that it bodes very poorly for the climate of student activism in the coming year." 'The bottom line is ultimately more important than the purported mandate or principle of learning, freedom of thought and expression' - Kourouss Esmaili, scholar at Tufts Kouross Esmaeli, a visiting scholar at Tufts University in the Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism and Diaspora, said that plans to control universities expose the corporate nature of universities. "The bottom line is ultimately more important than the purported mandate or principle of learning, freedom of thought and expression," Esmaeli said. In an email he sent to Middle East Eye, he wrote: "The administration's use of federal funds to intimidate and transform higher education into an acquiescence factory is a serious compromise of our basic values and rights. "The people in charge of the corporate universities will continue to bend the knee to their sovereign in the name of saving their institution. But hopefully this is exposing the universities' complicity not only in the genocide in Palestine, but the larger American capitalist interests." Esmaeli says that the events demonstrate why universities have been so resistant to divest from Israel, a key demand from pro-Palestine protesters, and the US military-industrial complex.
The National
2 hours ago
- The National
Obama ‘treason' claims video won't distract Americans from Epstein files
Following the uproar over the US administration's refusal to release the Department of Justice files related to the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, the crisis between US President Donald Trump and his base has proved to be uncontainable. Information continues to be made public that verifies a friendship between Epstein and Mr Trump and has fuelled speculation that this refusal is based on an effort to suppress information. Strongly buttressing those concerns, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Justice Department informed the President it discovered his name is mentioned throughout the Epstein files. Mr Trump sued the Journal and its owners including Rupert Murdoch for at least $10 billion on Friday. The paper is noted for meticulous reporting and successfully standing by its stories. Apparently as a means of distraction, Mr Trump made an allegation on his bespoke Truth Social media platform. He posted an AI-generated video depicting former president Barack Obama being arrested and imprisoned by FBI agents. It contained no disclaimers that it was fictional or generated by AI. The fictitious arrest video is prompted by new claims by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that, led by Mr Obama, the Democratic Party attempted to 'steal' the 2016 election that Mr Trump won. The DNI report is unconvincing, based on well-known information, tangential facts, random claims and unverified assertions. But it seems to be the latest effort by the Trump inner circle to push back against the long-standing and well-verified fact that the Russian government intervened in the 2016 election, a finding that he was eventually forced, however briefly, to officially accept. The extensive report compiled by special counsel Robert S Mueller III issued in April 2019 demonstrated conclusively that Russia had engaged in 'sweeping and systematic' intervention efforts to try to ensure the defeat of Hillary Clinton and the victory of Mr Trump. Moreover, it found that one-time Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort constituted 'a grave counterintelligence threat' and had shared intelligence including private Trump campaign polling and other data with Russian intelligence agents. Mr Manafort was convicted of multiple crimes and sentenced to 73 months in prison, but was pardoned by Mr Trump in 2020. Mr Mueller was unable to establish any definitive collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and said that Justice Department rules prevented him from recommending any criminal charges against the President. The scandal has haunted Mr Trump ever since. The attempt by Ms Gabbard to flip the script on Mr Obama and the Democrats through her new report and Mr Trump's effort to use this to try to change the subject from Epstein indicate desperation. So does the new initiative by Speaker Mike Johnson to suddenly adjourn the House of Representatives to avoid any vote – which would probably pass with a few Republicans joining Democrats in demanding release of the files – under current circumstances. Among the most embarrassing new revelations was another report in the Wall Street Journal about a 50th birthday book of tributes to Epstein from his close friends that includes, allegedly, a risque drawing and intriguing note from Mr Trump. The two men were reportedly close until a 2004 real estate dispute. But this apparent effort to shift the topic may fail, both because few believe that the FBI has arrested Mr Obama, and only the most gullible will prefer the new Gabbard report over the existing Mueller one. Moreover, by linking, once again, the Russia intervention scandal, which was all-too real, to speculation about the Epstein files, the administration may end up fuelling the idea that it has something to be concerned about. The Justice Department says it is planning to meet Epstein's main accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a lengthy sentence for sex trafficking. There is a potential win-win scenario in the offing. If Mr Trump were to pardon Maxwell, and she were then to confirm that he had little or nothing to do with Epstein, problem – presumably – solved. It's far-fetched at this stage, but not much more than a President posting a video of his predecessor being thrown in a dungeon. As for the idea of Mr Obama being arrested, it's admittedly a provocation. Until it isn't. There is no reason to think that the FBI is contemplating arresting the former president, and there are certainly no grounds to do that. But there are also grounds to be alarmed that Mr Trump is trying to acculturate the American public to the idea that his political enemies might be rounded up and tossed in prison. There were many possible distractions available to the President. Depicting him organising the arrest and imprisonment of his rival and predecessor is a disturbing choice indeed.
