Microsoft to ship Nvidia chips to UAE; invest $15.2 billion

Nov. 3 (UPI) — Microsoft announced Monday that it has export licenses to ship Nvidia chips to the United Arab Emirates to help boost its artificial intelligence goals.

Microsoft said it’s the first company under the Trump administration to get the licenses from the Department of Commerce. It got the OK in September, and it said it was based on “updated and stringent technology safeguards.”

“While the chips are powerful and the numbers are large, more important is their positive impact across the UAE,” Microsoft said in a blog post from President Brad Smith. “We’re using these GPUs to provide access to advanced AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, open-source providers and Microsoft itself.”

Nvidia shares went up by 3% Monday, while Microsoft stock rose slightly, CNBC reported.

There is a “very important” relationship between the UAE and U.S. government over several administrations, Smith told CNBC at the ADIPEC conference in Abu Dhabi.

“We’re very grateful to the secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick, and the work that he has championed to enable export licenses to be made available to us,” Smith said. “That builds as well on the relationships we had with Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio when he was in the Senate and Democrats as well. [It] takes two parties to govern, and we keep that in mind.”

Microsoft announced Monday it will increase investments in the UAE to $15.2 billion from the AI initiative’s start in 2023 to 2029.

“This is not money raised in the UAE,” Smith said in the blog post. “It’s money we’re spending in the UAE. And as we do everywhere in the world, we’re focused not just on growing our business but also on contributing to the local economy. This involves bringing together three critical factors — technology, talent, and trust.”