Microsoft to invest over $15 billion in UAE by 2029

Microsoft is set to bring its total investment in the UAE to over $15 billion (£11.5 billion) by the end of 2029 and has got the green light from the Trump administration to export Nvidia chips for its data centres there, Reuters reported on November 3rd. 

The UAE has spent billions of dollars in a bid to become the focal point of international artificial intelligence, utilising its close relations with the US to access some of the world’s most advanced chips. 

“The biggest share of (the investment), by far, both looking back and looking forward, is the expansion of AI data centres across the UAE,” said Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith. “From our perspective, it’s an investment that is critical to meet the demand here for the use of AI.”

Reuters reported that none of the £11.5 billion investment will involve Stargate UAE, the initial phase of one of the world’s biggest planned data centre hubs. 

Last year, Microsoft invested $1.5 billion (£1 billion) to take a minority stake in Abu Dhabi AI company G42. However, G42’s past ties with China received scrutiny from the US, due to concerns over Beijing’s access to advanced semiconductors, including via third parties like the UAE.

G42 said it was working with Washington and the Emirati government to comply with AI development and deployment standards.

In a blog post on Microsoft’s website, Smith said that licences approved in 2024 by the Biden administration enabled the company to attain the equivalent of 21,500 Nvidia A100 Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) in the UAE, based on a mixture of A100, H100, and H200 chips.

During September, the White House cleared for export an amount equivalent to an additional 60,400 A100 chips, involving Nvidia’s more advanced GB300 GPUs, Smith said. 

The news comes after a Research and Markets report said the UAE’s data centre market is anticipated to surpass a value of $3.3 billion (£2.5 billion) by 2030. 

Reuters, Maghrebi.org