ABU DHABI (Reuters) -Microsoft ( MSFT ) plans to invest over $15 billion in the United Arab Emirates in the seven years to the end of 2029 and has secured export licenses from the Trump administration to ship advanced chips to the Gulf country, it said Monday. 

"The biggest share of it (the investment), by far, both looking back and looking forward, is the expansion of AI data centers across the UAE. And from our perspective, it's an investment that is critical to meet the demand here for the use of AI," Microsoft ( MSFT ) Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

Smith said that it had secured export licenses for that work from the U.S. government last year and had secured new licenses for this year. Smith was speaking on the sidelines of the ADIPEC energy conference in Abu Dhabi.

The UAE has been spending billions of dollars to become a global AI hub, looking to leverage its strong relations with Washington to secure access to U.S. technology, such as some of the world's most advanced chips.