UAE, Saudi Eye Semiconductor, AI Investments

According to technology experts, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have plans to expand their technology sectors via AI investments and semiconductor capabilities.

The two GCC countries outlined significant investment plans for AI and semiconductor installations and production.

Analysts at S&P Global Market Intelligence wrote, “While spending on AI-led facilities by Microsoft Corp, among others, has been held up by US export regulations, traditional datacentres run by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Amazon Inc are already operating.”

“Should US supplies not be available, firms from mainland China and Hong Kong, which already accounted for 31.8 per cent of supplies of traditional servers, may take the lead,” S&P Global Market Intelligence noted in its report.

The report comes in the wake of a meeting held by leaders of the UAE and the US. AI, energy, climate, and space were the key areas of discussion.

“Few countries are moving as fast on advanced technologies and artificial intelligence – and as closely in sync with the US – as the UAE,” the UAE Ambassador to Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba, posted on X.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia also aim to become chip manufacturing centers. Saudi Arabia already has a strategy established with Foxconn Technology Group. The UAE’s sovereign fund was a co-investor in GlobalFoundries Inc. Yet, both are competing with the US, the EU, Japan and others to attract new investments, the report noted.

The S&P report said access to manufacturing machines is also a challenge. China accounts for 47 per cent of global imports as its chip firms build out mature technologies. However, delays in new projects in Europe may provide a source of supplies.

“In the meantime, though, the state-owned funds need to work with private sector chip producers. They’re in the midst of a long-awaited, but potentially short-lived, cyclical upturn in demand for non-AI systems,” said the report.