Saudi Arabia and UAE in AI arms race, buying up Nvidia chips
2 min read Saudi Arabia & UAE enter AI arms race, snapping up Nvidia chips for AI, stoking supply tensions in Silicon Valley. Gulf nations strive for AI leadership, but concerns arise over autocratic tech use. August 15, 2023 08:05
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are buying up thousands of high-performance Nvidia chips crucial for building artificial intelligence software.
The Gulf powerhouses have publicly stated their goal of becoming leaders in AI as they pursue ambitious plans to turbocharge their economies.
But the push has also raised concerns about potential misuse of the technology by the oil-rich states’ autocratic leaders.
According to people familiar with the moves, Saudi Arabia has bought at least 3,000 of Nvidia’s H100 chips.
The H100 is a $40,000 processor described by Nvidia chief Jensen Huang as “the world’s first computer [chip] designed for generative AI”.
Meanwhile, the UAE has also secured access to thousands of Nvidia chips and has already developed its own open-source large language model, known as Falcon.
The AI arms race between Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other countries is raising questions about the future of the technology and its potential impact on society.
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