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Tom Hussain

Months after backing out of investments in Chinese tech firms under American pressure, the United Arab Emirates has formed a partnership with the United States to lead global advancements in artificial intelligence (AI).
The agreement was formalised last Monday, with the two countries’ national security advisers endorsing “common principles for cooperation on AI” during a meeting in Washington.
Under these principles, state-owned Emirati tech companies will avoid partnerships with Chinese AI firms flagged by the US for national security concerns.
But analysts expect collaboration with Chinese firms to continue in politically neutral fields like renewable energy.
The AI partnership was one of three areas highlighted by US President Joe Biden during his discussions on September 23 with Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Biden highlighted the pact, along with deepening defence ties and the nations shared interests in “preventing conflict and de-escalation”, as grounds for formally recognising the UAE as a “major defence partner” – a status that will enhance military cooperation, interoperability and advanced weapons transfers between the two.
The US has previously granted this status to India, which is part of key strategic alliances like the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with Australia and Japan.
According to a joint statement after the presidential meeting, the US and UAE aim to “strengthen cooperation, develop regulatory frameworks” and promote the safe deployment of emerging technologies through their shared AI principles.

This new partnership builds on a quid pro quo established in February, when Abu Dhabi’s state-owned AI holding company G42 divested from Chinese tech firms, ensuring access to critical US technologies, including Nvidia chips.
Sales of such chips to the Middle East have been restricted as part of a US national security review.
G42 owned an estimated US$100 million investment in ByteDance, owner of the app TikTok, which the US could ban in January under a controversial law that seeks to force the Chinese firm to sell the platform.
G42 also previously collaborated with Chinese AI firm BGI Genomics – blacklisted by the US in 2021 as a Chinese military venture – in biotechnology projects, including one to trace the Covid virus during the pandemic.
Following its divestment from China, US tech giant Microsoft bought a US$1.5 stake in G42 with the goal of developing and deploying advanced AI and digital infrastructure in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.
The Microsoft-G42 partnership quickly unveiled a project that plans to leverage 1 gigawatt (GW) of geothermal energy to power data centres in Kenya, which the US designated as its first “major non-Nato ally” in sub-Saharan Africa in May.
During a June speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, White House technology adviser Tarun Chhabra said the Microsoft partnership with G42 was part of intensified US efforts to prevent Middle Eastern states from collaborating with China’s Huawei on AI development.
“The effort to work with Microsoft as an alternative to Huawei is generally a positive development and one that we want to encourage,” Chhabra said.


The UAE has otherwise resisted American pressure to stop doing business with Huawei, which installed the country’s 5G infrastructure in 2019.
The dispute was further fuelled by American allegations that China was building an intelligence facility at a container terminal operated by Cosco Shipping Ports at Abu Dhabi’s Port Khalifa – claims the UAE rejected as unfounded after conducting an investigation.
The tensions led the UAE to pull out of talks for a US$23 billion deal to acquire US F-35 stealth warplanes and MQ-9 Reaper drones.
As part of its drive to become a major player in the technology industry, the UAE also plans to establish AI data centres across Asia, including in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
On September 18, G42 announced it would build AI data centres in India with a dedicated power generation capacity of up to 2GW – about double the country’s currently installed capacity – and deploy a powerful supercomputer.
On the same day, Abu Dhabi’s global technology investment firm MGX – partly owned by G42 – joined the Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership, a consortium that includes top US corporations Microsoft, BlackRock and Global Infrastructure Partners.
The consortium aims to invest up to US$100 billion in AI data centres and supporting energy infrastructure using Nvidia’s expertise. Short term plans call for raising US$30 billion in private equity.
But the newly announced AI partnership between Abu Dhabi and Washington “should not be understood” as the UAE joining the US-led chips and AI coalition that includes Japan, and South Korea, said Ahmed Aboudouh, China studies research head at the Emirates Policy Centre in Abu Dhabi.
The UAE has a vision to be the Taiwan of the Global South when it comes to tech power
Ahmed Aboudouh, political analyst
“I don’t think the Emirati leadership is interested in putting the UAE in this position,” he told This Week In Asia.
Instead, Abu Dhabi is charting its own path, focusing on maximising self-interest by developing its industrial and tech sectors and positioning itself as a major tech power in the future.
“The UAE has a vision to be the Taiwan of the Global South when it comes to tech power,” said Aboudouh, who is also an associate fellow of the British think tank Chatham House.
As such, he does not think the UAE has completely abandoned its AI cooperation with China.
The UAE’s “strategic, long-term priority” is to diversify its options in AI and other advanced technologies, ensuring its tech development is not reliant on any single player in the future, Aboudouh said.
“Think about it as a tech hedging strategy,” he added.
Robert Mogielnicki, a senior resident scholar of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, said the US-UAE plan to deepen AI cooperation reflects the UAE’s ambitious technology goals, the technology expertise the US contributes, and their robust bilateral relationship.
“While US-China competition in the technology space isn’t going away, these two countries bring very different types of partnerships to the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia,” he told This Week In Asia.
“I see both the US and China playing important but differing roles in these parts of the world,” Mogielnicki said.


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Artificial intelligence

US President Joe Biden (right) greets United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (left) as he arrives at the White House on Monday. Photo: AP

US President Joe Biden (right) and United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (left) meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on Monday. Photo: AP

US-India chips deal opens up new front in tech war vs China

A US-India semiconductor pact could reshape New Delhi’s tech role. Photo: Shutterstock

US President Joe Biden (right) hugs India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a Quad leaders summit in Delaware on September 21. Photo: AP

Indian men ride along a dirt road near a nuclear power plant in Norora, Uttar Pradesh state, in 2018. Photo: AFP

India’s semiconductor success will hinge on its willingness to invest time, money and resources, experts say. Photo: Shutterstock

China beefs up computing power by 25% as AI race drives demand

China’s computing power grew 25 per cent year on year in the first half of 2024. Image: Shutterstock

The US accounted for 32 per cent of the world’s total computing power as of the end of last year, higher than China’s 26 per cent. Image: Shutterstock

Russia produced most AI content to sway presidential vote, US intelligence official says

A US official claims Russia’s AI efforts aimed to boost Donald Trump’s candidacy and denigrate Kamala Harris. Photo: AP

Donald Trump supporters at a campaign rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Photo: AFP

US study finds China’s tech innovation ‘much stronger’ than previously understood

People visit a booth for Chinese battery manufacturing giant CATL at Automechanika, a leading trade fair for cars, in Frankfurt, Germany, on September 11. Photo: Xinhua

An employee for battery manufacturing firm Gotion High-Tech works at a plant in Hefei, Anhui province. Photo: Xinhua

American software firm Nvidia, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, relies heavily on China for revenue. Photo: AP

A Tesla Model X is positioned on a truck at a logistics drop zone in Seattle, Washington, in August. Although Tesla is one of the world’s largest sellers of EVs, this year it is well off its 2023 pace of 1.8 million deliveries. Photo: Bloomberg

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While the UAE seeks to diversify its tech options, it is unlikely to completely abandon AI collaboration with China, opting for a ‘tech hedging strategy’


While the UAE seeks to diversify its tech options, it is unlikely to completely abandon AI collaboration with China, opting for a ‘tech hedging strategy’.
