Middle East's AI Ambitions Face Hurdles as US Chip Restrictions Extend

Nvidia in a regulatory filing recently revealed that the U.S. has expanded restrictions on the exports of its chips beyond China, to other regions including some countries in the Middle East. AMD is also said to have received a similar notification.

This comes on the heels of reports that have revealed the procurement of a minimum of 3,000 H100s by Saudi Arabia. These chips, specifically designed to aid the development of generative AI models were obtained through a public research institution—King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.

Similarly, the UAE has gained access to a substantial number of Nvidia chips and has already developed Falcon—its own open-source large language model. This achievement occurred at the state-owned Technology Innovation Institute in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi.

Engineers, researchers, and American chip maker Cerebras also recently came together to create an Arabic language model—Jais for generative AI applications. The new model contains 13 billion parameters and was developed from a vast dataset that blends Arabic and English, including codes.

There has been a demand for thousands of NVIDIA chips from Saudi and UAE. The Gulf nations have publicly declared their aim to become AI leaders as they pursue ambitious strategies to energise their economies. The restrictions seem to come from a place to stifle these ambitions which seem to have triggered concerns about potential misuse by autocratic leaders in these wealthy oil states.

Previously, restrictions were imposed on the supply of NVIDIA’s H100. However, the company found a way around it by introducing the A800.