As President Donald Trump embarks on his Middle East tour this week, AI chips have become a central topic of discussion, according to a recent report by The New York Times. Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are keen to secure advanced AI chips from American companies, and the Trump administration appears open to facilitating these deals.
Saudi Arabia and UAE want more AI chips, with fewer restrictions
The New York Times highlighted how this marks a departure from the Biden administration’s restrictive approach. Under Biden, the US limited how many AI chips countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE could buy, fearing the technology could end up in China’s hands. Companies like NVIDIA and Oracle protested, and the Trump administration seems to agree.
Quoting Ben Kass, a Commerce Department spokesperson, the Times reported criticism of the Biden-era policy as “overly complex, bureaucratic, and would stymie American innovation.” The Trump administration is reportedly preparing to scrap those rules and replace them with a new framework that allows direct negotiations with individual countries over chip access.
Strategic leverage and ongoing deals
A separate report from Bloomberg said the US is close to finalizing a deal with Saudi Arabia that would give the kingdom more AI chips for data centers. However, there are still concerns about China potentially accessing the technology. One idea being discussed is letting the US control who can use data centers powered by American chips.
In an earlier post on X, White House “AI Czar” David Sacks said, “We must take aggressive steps to prevent advanced semiconductors from being illegally diverted into China. But that goal should not preclude legitimate sales to the rest of the world as long as partners comply with reasonable security conditions.”
Industry moves and regional investments
As part of this diplomatic push, executives from major US tech firms — including NVIDIA, AMD, Google, and OpenAI — are either traveling with the president or meeting with Gulf officials, according to the Times. For instance, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who is attending meetings in Riyadh, announced a deal to supply chips for a massive 500-megawatt Saudi data center project, according to Bloomberg.
The dominance of the US-made AI chips gives Trump a powerful bargaining tool. While China is working on alternatives, most advanced AI systems today, from chatbots to drug discovery, still rely on American technology. Whether the Trump administration uses this power to build solid alliances or secure short-term wins remains to be seen.