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Microsoft ( MSFT ) to invest $15.2 billion in UAE between 2023 and

2029

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Secures advanced chip export licences for UAE, executive

says

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Chips to be used for Microsoft UAE data centres, executive

says

(Adds details from paragraph 5)

By Federico Maccioni

ABU DHABI, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Microsoft ( MSFT ) will

invest over $15 billion in the United Arab Emirates in the seven

years to the end of 2029 and has the Trump administration's

approval to export Nvidia ( NVDA ) chips for its data centres there, a

senior executive told Reuters on Monday.

The UAE has been spending billions of dollars to become a

global artificial intelligence hub, leveraging its close

relations with Washington to secure access to U.S. technology,

including some of the world's most advanced chips.

"The biggest share of (the investment), by far, both looking

back and looking forward, is the expansion of AI data centres

across the UAE," Microsoft ( MSFT ) Vice Chair and President Brad Smith

said in an interview.

"From our perspective, it's an investment that is critical

to meet the demand here for the use of AI," he said on the

sidelines of the ADIPEC energy conference in Abu Dhabi.

NEW ROUND OF CHIP EXPORT APPROVALS FROM TRUMP WHITE HOUSE

Microsoft ( MSFT ) invested $1.5 billion last year to take a minority

stake in Abu Dhabi AI company G42, giving the U.S. tech giant a

board seat, which is filled by Smith.

G42's past ties to China, however, have attracted scrutiny

in Washington, due to concerns over Beijing's access to advanced

semiconductors, including via third parties like the UAE.

G42 said last year it was working with U.S. partners and the

Emirati government to comply with AI development and deployment

standards. Smith said G42 had made "enormous progress" in

implementing the systems required to comply with U.S. law.

Asked whether the Abu Dhabi firm would obtain direct access

to the most advanced U.S. chips, he said he thought that would

be "part of G42's future."

Smith said in a separate blog post on Microsoft's ( MSFT ) website on

Monday that licences approved last year by the Biden

administration allowed Microsoft ( MSFT ) to accumulate the equivalent of

21,500 Nvidia A100 GPUs in the UAE, based on a combination of

A100, H100, and H200 chips.

The Trump White House in September cleared for export an

amount equivalent to a further 60,400 A100 chips, involving

Nvidia's ( NVDA ) more advanced GB300 GPUs, he said, after the

administration revised technology safeguards.

INVESTING BILLIONS IN AI EXPANSION, CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE

The chips covered by the latest approvals have not yet been

shipped, but that will happen "in a matter of months," Smith

told Reuters, adding they will be used in its own data centres

in the UAE.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) will have invested $7.3 billion in the UAE between

2023 and the end of this year. A further $7.9 billion is

earmarked to be spent between next year and the end of 2029,

including for the ongoing and planned expansion of AI and cloud

infrastructure, he said in his blog post.

None of the $15.2 billion investment disclosed on Monday

will involve Stargate UAE, the first phase of one of the world's

largest planned data centre hubs. That project, located in Abu

Dhabi, was announced during a Gulf visit by U.S. President

Donald Trump in May.