The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been granted expanded access by the US government to AI chips in return for supporting the country during the Iran War, it is claimed
Reported by Wall Street Journal, the news comes in the wake of the Department of Commerce announcing late last week that the UAE will now be categorized alongside India, South Korea, and countries in Europe when it comes to the purchase of technology, military items, or energy infrastructure that could have military applications, the Commerce Department said.
Previously, the UAE had been in a group that included China and Yemen.
The change will allow companies such as the UAE’s G42 to have unrestricted access to purchase advanced AI processors from the likes of Nvidia and AMD, while hyperscalers planning to build data centers in the country will no longer need licenses to export chips to there.
G42 is an Emirati AI development holding company funding data center projects in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. It also owns regional data center operator Khazna.
The chairman and controlling shareholder of G42, Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is the brother of the UAE president. Tahnoun is also the nation’s national security adviser and chair of Stargate-backer MGX.
Per the WSJ report, Tahnoun has led lobby efforts for expanded access to US AI chips and directly approached the White House after the outbreak of the war in Iran. Citing people familiar with the situation, the WSJ added that by siding with the US during the conflict, the UAE was seen as a reliable ally.
The Department of Commerce seemingly confirmed this stance in its statement, saying the change had been made “in recognition of the UAE’s status as a US major defense partner and its support in advancing US national security interests, including Operation Epic Fury.”
The WSJ outlet separately noted that in the days before President Trump’s second inauguration, Tahnoon was part of a group that invested $500 million to take a 49 percent stake in World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm founded by members of the Trump family.
The Trump administration initially approved chip sales to the UAE and Saudi Arabia in late November 2025, with the export licenses allowing each country’s so-called ‘AI champion’ – which, for the UAE, is G42 – to purchase up to 35,000 worth of Nvidia GB300 systems or their equivalent.
In January 2026, G42 CEO Peng Xiao said that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was anticipating the first shipments of advanced AI semiconductors “within months,” which will allow the first 200MW of a planned 1GW Stargate cluster to come online. Those deliveries were expected to consist of chips from Nvidia, AMD, and Cerebras Systems.