Advanced technology and AI are the newest pillar of the deep and enduring UAE-US relationship, which is built on a foundation of security and economic cooperation.
Accelerating this shift, UAE institutions and companies like G42, Mubadala, NYU Abu Dhabi and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center are joining with American counterparts like Microsoft, IBM, the Cleveland Clinic and NASA to launch new businesses, initiatives and missions to space.
The UAE is embracing change, building on its $1 trillion economic relationship with the US and welcoming the future of AI and advanced technology – and wants to do more.
Learn more about this economic partnership.
Yousef Al Otaiba
UAE Ambassador to the US
UAE Tech News
The UAE’s AI Ambitions
Being an early AI adaptor and innovator, the UAE’s AI sector is among the world’s most advanced. The UAE appointed the world’s first AI minister in 2017, created the first dedicated AI research university in 2020, and launched Falcon, a top-rated open-source large language model in 2023. In March 2024, the UAE's Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology Council launched MGX, a technology investment company with Mubadala and G42 as founding partners.
The UAE-US AI Partnership
From Nvidia, AMD and Microsoft to OpenAI and IBM, the UAE is forging deep partnerships with America’s leading technology companies.
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Following Microsoft's expanded partnership and investment in Abu Dhabi's G42, the partners jointly launched the Abu Dhabi-based Responsible AI Foundation, which aims to promote AI best practices and industry standards in the Middle East and Global South. In collaboration with G42, Microsoft also announced the Abu Dhabi expansion of its AI for Good Lab, which will leverage AI to help vulnerable communities worldwide.
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Nvidia and G42 are working together to develop AI solutions aimed at boosting weather forecasting accuracy globally and will set up an operational base and Earth-2 Climate Tech Lab in Abu Dhabi.
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Close bilateral space cooperation facilitated the launch of a UAE probe to Mars, trained Emirati astronauts for NASA-led missions, and will see the UAE construct the airlock for NASA’s Lunar Gateway space station.
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Significant investments by the UAE’s Mubadala Investment Company helped reenergize US semiconductor manufacturing; New York-based GlobalFoundries is now the third largest chipmaker in the world.
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Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, part of the M42 network, and Cleveland Clinic colleagues in the US conducted the UAE’s first robot-assisted kidney transplants.
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IBM and Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) launched an AI Center of Excellence to develop carbon-neutral solutions to existing energy supplies and further natural language processing (NLP) for Arabic dialects.
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The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) adopted Microsoft’s smart assistant program ‘Copilot’ to enhance public services and utilities.
These partnerships not only enhance UAE-US relations but are expected to have a positive impact on the Global South. In May 2024, Microsoft and G42 joined forces to build a $1 billion geothermal-powered data center in Kenya. In February 2025, the pair launched two new centers in Abu Dhabi to advance AI best practices and develop large language models for underrepresented languages. Close government-to-government cooperation is creating a new policy and oversight framework to expand commercial and research initiatives while protecting valuable intellectual property and national interests. Discover more about leading UAE-US partnerships shaping the future of AI below.
As Ambassador Al Otaiba and Ambassador Strong wrote in The National, “When it comes to advanced technologies and artificial intelligence, few countries are working as closely and moving as quickly together as the United States and the UAE. The US Silicon Valley and the UAE ‘Silicon Oasis’ are driving AI research and innovation towards the frontier. And they are doing so in partnerships that span labs, boardrooms and advanced production facilities.”
Using AI to innovate across an interconnected economy in the UAE | Microsoft
