Saudi Arabia optimistic about entering U.S. chipmakers NVIDIA high-performance chips that will enable it to develop and run state-of-the-art artificial intelligence models.
Abdulrahman Tariq Habib, a senior official at the Saudi Arabian Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority, told CNBC on Thursday that the kingdom expects to achieve such a feat next year. progress.
“I think within the next year,” Habib, deputy chief executive of SDAIA’s Office of Strategic Management, told CNBC’s Dan Murphy when asked about a possible timeline. That’s a significant expectation given that strict U.S. export controls have so far blocked the export of chips to Saudi Arabia. Habib made the remarks on the sidelines of GAIN, the Saudi Arabian International Artificial Intelligence Summit, held in Riyadh this week.
Habib said it would be “significant” for Saudi Arabia to obtain these chips – in this case, the Nvidia H200s, the company’s most powerful chip, used in OpenAI’s GPT-4o.
“This will ease business between Saudi Arabia and the United States,” he said. “This will also open a lot of doors in terms of capacity building, computing capacity in the Kingdom. But most importantly, it’s not just computing capacity that’s important. Over the last three years, we’ve worked hard on capacity building, human capacity and we’ve also built data capabilities, so we are working with all international communities to contribute to becoming one of the most active countries in the field of data analytics.
Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in building a strong artificial intelligence ecosystem in the country, and revealed in the SDAIA report that it aims to have artificial intelligence account for 12% of its gross domestic product by 2030. It was announced on March 9 that the Kingdom’s $925 billion Public Investment Fund will lead investments.
The efforts are part of Vision 2030, a plan launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to modernize the Saudi economy and diversify its revenue away from oil. rely.
In March this year, sources confirmed to CNBC that PIF was in talks with U.S. venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and other potential companies to create a $40 billion fund to invest in artificial intelligence.
U.S. chip export restrictions
News that the U.S. government is considering easing export rules to allow Saudi Arabia to obtain the coveted chips, first reported by Semafor, illustrates the positive relationship between Riyadh and Washington in the field of artificial intelligence, Habib said.
“It demonstrates our cooperation and work with international organizations in general and the United States in particular,” he said. “It also shows how Saudi Arabia, along with the United States, is an emerging power in artificial intelligence, investing in and producing artificial intelligence products.”
An Nvidia chip is displayed at the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai on June 26, 2024.
AFP | StrsGetty Images
The Biden administration has imposed a series of restrictions on chip exports over the past two years to prevent China from obtaining them. In May, it expanded those restrictions to require companies to obtain special licenses from the U.S. government to export advanced semiconductor and wafer-making materials to a number of Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The restrictions stem from national security concerns over Riyadh’s close ties to Beijing. China is Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner and an important investor in Vision 2030.
The Saudi Arabian government is reportedly working to meet Washington’s demands regarding relations with China and U.S. security concerns, while also leaving the door open to Beijing in case the U.S. refuses to export chips to Saudi Arabia.
CNBC has reached out to the U.S. Commerce Department for comment.
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