The U.S. Department of Commerce has granted Nvidia export licenses to supply advanced chips to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This marks the first approval for such technology shipments to the Middle East since the Trump administration. According to Bloomberg, the total volume and value of the deal have not been disclosed.
The licenses were issued following the UAE government’s March 2025 pledge to invest $1.4 trillion in the U.S. economy over the next decade. The report notes that the UAE has provided more detailed information about its investment plans to U.S. authorities and committed to investing amounts comparable to the value of the chips being supplied.
Since 2023, the U.S. has restricted exports of advanced chips to Gulf countries over concerns that the technology could reach China.
Earlier, in May 2025, OpenAI announced the launch of the “Stargate” project in the UAE, supported by the U.S. government, Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco, SoftBank, and Emirati tech firm G42. However, the first batch of export licenses does not include direct deliveries to G42.
