Trump’s Gulf visit sparks AI gold rush as US firms partner with Saudi Arabia, UAE: Reports

American technology firms are deepening their ties with Middle Eastern allies through a wave of multi-billion-dollar artificial intelligence (AI) investments, as part of a broader effort by US President Donald Trump to bolster economic relations during his Gulf tour.

According to Reuters, Trump has secured $600 billion in commitments from Saudi Arabia to US companies, with major announcements from Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, and others. These moves coincide with the Trump administration’s push to place US-led technology partnerships at the heart of its foreign policy in the region.

At the centre of these developments is Humain, a newly launched AI startup backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Nvidia said it will provide hundreds of thousands of its cutting-edge AI chips to Humain over the next five years, beginning with an initial batch of 18,000 Grace Blackwell (GB300) processors. Humain and Nvidia aim to build "AI factories" in Saudi Arabia with up to 500 megawatts of GPU computing power to position the kingdom as a global hub for AI and digital transformation.

AMD, Nvidia’s chief rival in AI accelerators, also announced a $10 billion collaboration with Humain. As per Reuters, the partnership includes hardware infrastructure, software support, and deployment of data centres across Saudi Arabia and the US. Keith Strier, AMD's Senior Vice President for Global AI Markets, noted that this agreement ensures Humain isn’t locked into a single vendor, reinforcing the kingdom’s commitment to building a resilient and diversified AI platform.

In a separate announcement reported by Bloomberg, Global AI, a US-based venture, revealed plans to build a New York-based data centre using Nvidia chips, in collaboration with Humain. Amazon and Humain are also jointly investing more than $5 billion to create an "AI Zone" in Saudi Arabia, leveraging AWS cloud technologies to power government services and a marketplace of AI agents. AWS had previously committed $5.3 billion to building cloud infrastructure in the kingdom.

Cisco Systems has entered the fray as well, saying it will combine its global expertise with Saudi Arabia’s AI ambitions, and has extended its partnership with Abu Dhabi-based G42. Meanwhile, Alphabet-backed Saudi venture capital firm STV launched a $100 million AI fund aimed at early-stage startups in the MENA region.

The Trump administration's facilitation of these deals includes the revocation of the Biden-era AI diffusion rule, which had imposed broad restrictions on chip exports. As Bloomberg reports, the Trump administration is shifting to country-specific negotiations, paving the way for trusted allies like Saudi Arabia and the UAE to access top-tier AI chips from Nvidia and AMD.

An upcoming agreement is expected to allow the UAE to import 500,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced chips annually until 2027, significantly exceeding previous export limits. One-fifth of these chips will reportedly be allocated to G42, while the rest will support US-led data centre projects in the UAE.

OpenAI is also reportedly exploring plans to establish a major data centre presence in the UAE, potentially expanding its footprint in the region. CEO Sam Altman is currently visiting the Gulf as part of a broader tour by US tech leaders.