Saudi Arabia optimistic about reaching US chipmaker Nvidia High-performance chips, which will enable it to develop and run the most advanced AI models.
Speaking to CNBC on Thursday, Abdulrahman Tariq Habib, a senior official at the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority, said the kingdom expects to make such a move next year.
“I think next year,” Habib, executive vice president of strategy management at SDAIA, told CNBC. That’s a big prediction given that strict U.S. export controls have so far prevented chips from being exported to the kingdom. Habib made the comments on the sidelines of the International Artificial Intelligence Summit in Riyadh this week.
Habib said that Saudi Arabia getting the chips “would mean a lot” — in this case, Nvidia H200s, the company’s most powerful chips, which are used in OpenAI’s GPT-4o.
“This will facilitate business between Saudi Arabia and the United States, and it will open a lot of doors to build computing capabilities and capacities in the Kingdom,” he said. “But more importantly, computing capabilities are not the only thing that matters. We have been working hard in the last three years to build capabilities, human capabilities, and we are also building data capabilities. So we are working and collaborating with the entire international community and contributing to being one of the most active countries in data analysis.”
Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in developing a robust AI ecosystem in the Kingdom, revealing in a report by SDAIA that it aims for AI to account for 12% of GDP by 2030. According to the report, published on September 9, the Kingdom’s $925 billion Public Investment Fund will lead the investment.
These efforts come within the framework of Vision 2030, the initiative launched by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to modernize the Saudi economy and diversify its revenues away from oil.
In March, sources confirmed to CNBC that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund was in talks with US venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and other potential companies to create a $40 billion fund to invest in artificial intelligence.
US Chip Export Restrictions
Habib said news that the US government is considering easing export rules to allow Saudi Arabia access to the coveted chips — first reported by Semaphore — is an indication of the positive relationship between Riyadh and Washington in the field of artificial intelligence.
He added, “This shows the cooperation and work we are doing with the international organization in general, and the United States in particular. This also shows our understanding of how Saudi Arabia can become an emerging power in the field of artificial intelligence, investment, and production of products in the field of artificial intelligence, in cooperation with the United States.”
Nvidia chip on display at Mobile World Congress in Shanghai on June 26, 2024.
Strs AFP | Getty Images
The Biden administration has imposed a series of restrictions on chip exports over the past two years in an attempt to block Chinese access. In May, it expanded those restrictions, introducing a requirement that companies obtain a special license from the U.S. government to export advanced semiconductors and chipmaking materials to several countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The restrictions stem from national security concerns about Riyadh’s close relationship with Beijing. China is Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner and a major investor in Vision 2030. Between 2016 and 2020, Chinese arms exports to the kingdom increased by nearly 400% compared to the previous five-year period, according to the Gulf Research Center.
Semaphore said in its report that the Saudi government is working to meet Washington's demands regarding its relationship with China and American security concerns, while keeping the door open to Beijing if the United States refuses to export its chips to the Kingdom.
CNBC has reached out to the U.S. Department of Commerce for comment.
