Microsoft announced on Monday that it has obtained export licenses to send Nvidia chips to the United Arab Emirates, a development that could boost the Gulf nation’s ambitious AI initiatives.

The company said it is the first to receive such licenses under United States President Donald Trump’s administration.

The Commerce Department granted approval in September, citing “updated and stringent technology safeguards.”

The licenses allow Microsoft to export the equivalent of 60,400 additional A100 chips, including Nvidia’s more advanced GB300 GPUs.

“While the chips are powerful and the numbers are large, more important is their positive impact across the UAE,” Microsoft said in a blog post. “We’re using these GPUs to provide access to advanced AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, open-source providers, and Microsoft itself.”

Nvidia shares rose roughly 2 per cent in premarket trading on Monday, while Microsoft stock gained nearly 1 per cent.

The Head of GCC macroeconomic analysis at Oxford Economics, Azad Zangana, noted that Nvidia’s chips are “crucial” to the UAE’s ambitions of becoming a leading global player in AI.

“Access to the world’s leading AI chips provides the hardware that will give developers the leading edge that is needed in an incredibly competitive global landscape,” Zangana wrote.

Microsoft also announced plans to boost its investment in the UAE, raising its total contribution to $15.2 billion by the end of the decade.

This includes a $1.5 billion equity stake in AI company G42 and over $5.5 billion in capital spending to expand Microsoft’s AI and cloud infrastructure projects in the region.

“We’re really investing in trust, and I think it’s that combination of technology, talent and trust that you’re seeing come together here in the UAE, around AI, around technology, but really the future of the whole economy,” said,
Brad Smith, Microsoft President.