Microsoft to Invest $15.2 Billion to Drive AI and Cloud Growth in the UAE

Microsoft just announced to invest $15.2 billion in the United Arab Emirates by 2029. The announcement comes as Abu Dhabi and Dubai recently hosted major energy and tech conferences this week. In other words, Microsoft sees the UAE as global hub for artificial intelligence and cloud innovation.

Since launching the initiative in 2023, the company has already poured in $7.3 billion, including a $1.5 billion equity stake in G42, the UAE’s sovereign AI company, and over $4.6 billion in building advanced AI and cloud datacenters.

In the next phase, which spans through 2026 to 2029, Microsoft will add another $7.9 billion, with $5.5 billion dedicated to expanding infrastructure. Moreover, the remaining $2.4 billion will go into operations and local partnerships.

Microsoft says it’s among the select few to have obtained export clearance from the Biden administration’s Commerce Department to send advanced GPUs to the UAE. Under these licenses, the company has already imported the equivalent of 21,500 Nvidia A100-class GPUs, a mix that includes A100, H100, and H200 chips powering its growing AI infrastructure.

More recently, Microsoft received a fresh round of export approvals to deliver another 60,400 GPU equivalents, this time featuring Nvidia’s next-gen GB300 processors. These high-performance chips will bolster the company’s expanding AI and cloud footprint across the UAE, fueling models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft itself.

That’s not all; the company now employs nearly 1,000 people in the UAE, representing 40 nationalities, and collaborates with 1,400 partner firms employing 45,000 professionals. Its newly established Global Engineering Development Center in Abu Dhabi is helping attract top AI talent. While the AI for Good Lab is applying machine learning to humanitarian challenges across Africa and the Middle East.

To ensure inclusion, Microsoft has pledged to skill one million UAE residents by 2027. This includes ongoing programs used for training 120,000 government employees, 175,000 students, and 39,000 teachers in AI and cloud literacy.

The initiative also extends to governance. Alongside G42 and MBZUAI, Microsoft co-founded the Responsible AI Future Foundation, aimed at developing ethical AI frameworks for the Global South.

Article feature image source: Microsoft