AsianFin -- The U.S. government has reportedly greenlighted the export of up to 70,000 advanced artificial intelligence chips to companies in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, representing a significant policy shift for Washington as it seeks to balance national security concerns with opportunities for American chipmakers in the Middle East.
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The approved exports involve some of the most advanced AI processors currently available, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Wednesday. The GB300 system uses Nvidia's B300 chips, part of its Blackwell series and among the most powerful AI processors on the market.
The approvals allow U.S. companies to sell up to 35,000 of Nvidia Corp.'s GB300 servers or their equivalents to both G42, a state-run AI company based in Abu Dhabi, and Humain, a Saudi government-backed AI venture, government officials told the WSJ. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) has also secured a multi-billion dollar agreement to work with Humain, per the report.
The reported agreements include guardrails and cybersecurity provisions to prevent the chips from benefiting China and Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co. The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, which oversees export controls, is said to be in charge of monitoring compliance with the agreements' guardrails and cybersecurity provisions.
The exports represent a significant development from a national security perspective, experts told the WSJ, as they worry Chinese companies could find ways around security protocols to access the computing power. Both Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. have deep partnerships with China. The U.S. restricted AI chip sales to China in 2022 and followed up the next year with curbs on some 40 countries viewed as possible avenues for Beijing to access restricted hardware, including Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh has sought to address these concerns: last year, the head of Saudi Arabia's AI investment fund said the country would divest from China if asked to do so by the U.S., and Humain's CEO told Bloomberg last month that the venture had vowed not to purchase equipment from Huawei.
The U.S. Commerce Department approvals mark a reversal from earlier this year when some administration officials rejected the idea of exporting directly to the state-backed companies over security concerns. "These approvals will promote continued American AI dominance and global technological leadership," the WSJ cited a Commerce Department spokesman.
The approvals could also benefit tech companies such as Microsoft and Amazon.com, which need export licenses approved and have been waiting for months for clearance from the Commerce Department.
The deals come as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made his first visit to Washington in seven years this week, meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss chip access and broader AI cooperation. The crown prince pledged Saudi Arabia would spend around $50 billion on semiconductors in the short term, emphasizing that "AI is critical for us" to keep the Saudi economy growing.
The chip approvals are part of a broader AI agreement between Washington and Riyadh that could be finalized this week, Bloomberg on Wednesday quoted people familiar with the matter. The accord would see the U.S. government look favorably upon a negotiated volume of AI chip export applications for Saudi Arabia, which has needed Washington's permission for such shipments since 2023.
"We are working on that," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he met with Crown Prince Mohammed on Tuesday. The deal will involve "certain levels of chips," the president said. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted at the chips agreement after Tuesday's meeting, telling Fox News, "We are going to partner them with some of the biggest US tech companies."
The bilateral deal follows months of negotiations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, which has worked to assuage concerns in Washington that semiconductors sent to the Gulf nation could wind up benefiting China, Bloomberg reported. Several people with knowledge of the accord emphasized that it includes security conditions, including ones related to China.
