Like a friend who shares the news over tea — no jargon, no fluff, just what matters across the Gulf.
ISSUE 09, 20 July 2026
Ai MAJLiS
- UAE
- SAUDI ARABIA
- QATAR
- KUWAIT
- BAHRAIN
- OMAN
Masa al-khair — welcome to Issue #009 of Ai MAJLiS. The Gulf’s AI story this week is about commitment and diversification — two forces pulling in different directions. Core42’s CEO put it plainly: “The UAE is all in on American tech — we are not hedging, we are not diversifying, we’re doubling down on it.” Meanwhile Saudi Arabia’s Communications Minister flew to Beijing and Seoul in the same week, inking AI and semiconductor deals with both China and South Korea simultaneously. Oman quietly did something none of its neighbours has done yet — issued a Royal Decree creating a dedicated AI Special Zone. And a Microsoft-Accenture report named Saudi Arabia a global leader in the intelligent economy. Nine editions in. The tea is warm. Let’s go.
01
UAE - AI Infrastructure · US Partnership
"We Are All In on American Tech" — Core42 Responds to the UAE's Historic Chip Upgrade
Following last week’s landmark reclassification of the UAE to Country Group A:5 — the US’s most privileged export tier — Core42’s Chief Executive Talal Al Kaissi this week delivered the clearest public statement yet of the UAE’s technology alignment strategy:
"The UAE is all in on American tech, we are not hedging, we are not diversifying, we're doubling down on it."
— Talal Al Kaissi, CEO, Core42, July 2026
Al Kaissi directly addressed critics who feared the A:5 reclassification would relax the UAE’s compliance and security standards — dismissing those concerns and pointing to the UAE’s regulated technology environment as having been designed with direct input from the US government and Microsoft, which holds a minority stake in G42. The first shipments of Nvidia chips arrived in the UAE in May 2026 — a milestone in the country’s AI infrastructure buildout that the A:5 decision now accelerates significantly.
The practical scale of what this unlocks is substantial. G42, Core42, and MGX — the UAE’s three sovereign AI infrastructure entities — can now receive the most advanced Nvidia and AMD AI chips, servers, and compute systems without individual export licences. The same applies to every major US tech company operating in the UAE: Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and xAI. With the Stargate UAE 5 GW campus in active build-out, this removes the last significant hardware procurement barrier the UAE faced.
Meanwhile, UAE Ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba reinforced the strategic framing: the UAE’s position as a trusted American technology partner is now formally recognised at the highest level of US export control law — a status that only a handful of countries globally share.
A:5
UAE's new US export tier — close ally status
May '26
First Nvidia chip shipments arrived in UAE
5 GW
Stargate UAE campus — now fully hardware-unlocked
- What This Means for Businesses
For AI companies, cloud providers, and enterprise technology firms assessing UAE market entry: the hardware constraint is gone. The UAE now offers the most permissive large AI infrastructure market outside the continental United States — with sovereign compute capacity, US-grade chip access, and a government that has committed to integrating agentic AI across 50% of its operations by 2028. The window for first-mover advantage in UAE enterprise AI is open — and narrowing.
Why it matters: Core42’s “all in” statement is more than corporate positioning — it is a declaration of the UAE’s technology doctrine. In a region where hedging between US and Chinese technology has been common, the UAE has chosen a side explicitly and publicly. This shapes every AI infrastructure, cloud, and enterprise technology decision in the country for the next decade.
02
SAUDI ARABIA - AI Diplomacy · Semiconductors
Saudi Arabia Flew to Beijing and Seoul in the Same Week — and Signed AI Deals in Both
In a remarkable display of diplomatic energy, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Alswaha conducted two major AI partnership missions in consecutive days this week — one to Beijing, one to Seoul — signing agreements with technology companies and government bodies in both countries.
In Beijing (July 14): Alswaha met with China’s Minister of Science and Technology, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, and senior leaders at major Chinese technology companies. The agenda covered AI cooperation, digital economy expansion, technology transfer, talent exchange programmes, localisation of advanced technologies, advanced manufacturing, and joint innovation. The two sides specifically explored expanding the presence of major Chinese technology companies in Saudi Arabia — a notable counterpoint to the UAE’s explicitly US-aligned technology doctrine announced the same week.
In Seoul (July 16): Alswaha met with executives and investors from the Korea Software Industry Association and Korean technology firms, seeking partnerships in AI, semiconductors, digital infrastructure, cloud computing, and software. Korea’s semiconductor industry — home to Samsung and SK Hynix, two of the world’s largest memory chip producers — represents a strategic diversification play for Saudi Arabia’s AI supply chain beyond Nvidia-centred US infrastructure.
2
AI partnership missions in 48 hours: Beijing + Seoul
$135B
Saudi AI contribution to GDP projected by 2030
14th
Saudi Arabia's 2025 Global AI Index ranking
The contrast with the UAE’s approach is deliberate and significant. Where the UAE has chosen explicit alignment with the US technology ecosystem, Saudi Arabia is pursuing a multi-vector AI partnership strategy — maintaining deep US ties through HUMAIN, Nvidia, Google, and the $14.9B investment wave, while simultaneously cultivating Chinese and Korean technology relationships. This reflects Saudi Arabia’s broader foreign policy doctrine of strategic autonomy.
Separately this week, a report titled “Securing Nations in the Intelligent Economy: Turning AI and Quantum Disruption into Strategic Advantage” — published by Microsoft and Accenture — highlighted Saudi Arabia as making significant progress in data and AI, with SDAIA cited as a leading national model. The report was covered by Saudi Press Agency and added to the Kingdom’s growing stack of international AI recognition.
03
GCC WIDE - AI Economy · Research
The Intelligent Economy Report: GCC Citizen Satisfaction with AI Government at 76% — and Rising
A wave of research published this week paints the most comprehensive picture yet of where GCC citizens and governments actually stand on AI — and the numbers are more advanced than most outside observers appreciate.
The Microsoft-Accenture “Intelligent Economy” report, released July 15, named Saudi Arabia as a global leader in the AI-driven economy and specifically cited SDAIA as a leading national model for building an integrated national AI ecosystem. But the broader GCC picture, drawn from multiple concurrent reports including BCG’s latest regional analysis, is equally striking:
→ 76% of GCC citizens already accept AI-powered public services — against a global average that remains significantly lower
→ GCC residents use digital government services 22% more often than the global average
→ Citizen satisfaction with digital government across the GCC runs at a net 81%
→ The UAE Pass identity app alone serves more than 11 million users
→ Abu Dhabi has stated its ambition to be the world’s first fully AI-run government by 2027
76%
GCC citizens accept AI-powered public services
81%
Net citizen satisfaction with GCC digital govt
11M
UAE Pass identity app users
Qatar’s Hukoomi portal now carries more than 400 government services, with the state targeting more than 90% of services going fully digital. In the UN’s e-Government Index, Qatar climbed 25 places in a single cycle, from 78th to 53rd. Qatar University’s Spark AI Innovation Hub — built in partnership with Google Cloud — launched in Q1 2026 as a hub for AI development, machine learning, and data science.
The Gulf Times editorial this week captured the broader picture with the sharpest framing: “The Gulf wired its citizens to the state at record speed. Artificial intelligence will now rewire the state itself.”
"The Gulf wired its citizens to the state at record speed. Artificial intelligence will now rewire the state itself — and Qatar, of all places, knows how to turn a hard regimen into a pleasure."
— Gulf Times editorial, June 18, 2026
Why it matters: These citizen acceptance numbers are commercially critical. AI-powered government services in the GCC are not facing a consumer adoption challenge — the demand is already there, running well ahead of global averages. The commercial opportunity is in the supply side: the companies that can build, integrate, and maintain the AI systems that governments are actively deploying across the region.
04
OMAN - AI Infrastructure · Sovereign Strategy
Oman Issues a Royal Decree for AI — The Gulf's Most Underrated Infrastructure Story of the Year
While the UAE announces AI spokespeople and Saudi Arabia flies between Beijing and Seoul, Oman quietly did something this month that none of its neighbours has done: it established an AI Special Zone under Royal Decree 50/2026.
The AI Special Zone — which Computer Weekly describes as “the centrepiece of the strategy” to transform Oman from a consumer of advanced technologies into a developer and exporter of AI-driven capabilities — is a formally designated, legally protected zone specifically designed to attract AI infrastructure investment, AI companies, and sovereign AI capability development. It sits within Oman Vision 2040 and represents the most structured institutional AI commitment any of the GCC’s smaller markets has made.
Oman’s competitive advantages in this play are real and distinctive:
RD50
Royal Decree establishing Oman's AI Special Zone, 2026
#1
Highest concentration of submarine cable landings in ME
2040
Oman Vision timeline for AI-driven economic transformation
→ Submarine cable concentration: Oman hosts one of the Middle East’s highest concentrations of international submarine cable landings, giving it direct access to major data routes linking Asia, Africa and Europe — a connectivity advantage neither the UAE nor Saudi Arabia can fully replicate
→ Lower infrastructure costs: Relative to Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, Oman offers lower land costs, cooling advantages in coastal locations, and competitive energy pricing for data center operations
→ Digital sovereignty narrative: Oman’s positioning as an independent, non-aligned AI hub appeals to international companies seeking GCC presence without the geopolitical alignment pressures that come with UAE (US-aligned) or Saudi (multi-vector) infrastructure choices
The challenge Computer Weekly identifies is clear: whether these advantages can outweigh the pull of capital, compute capacity and mature ecosystems that favour the region’s established AI hubs. The AI Special Zone is Oman’s answer — a formal institutional framework to attract the investment needed to close that gap.
- First Mover Opportunity
Oman’s AI Special Zone is accepting early expressions of interest from AI infrastructure companies, data center operators, and AI services firms. Given the combination of connectivity advantages, lower costs, and sovereign zone protections, companies looking for a GCC AI presence outside the established UAE-Saudi duopoly should be evaluating Oman as a serious alternative — not an afterthought.
Why it matters: The Royal Decree formalises what Oman has been signalling for 18 months — that it intends to be more than a consumer of Gulf AI infrastructure. The AI Special Zone gives international companies a legally certain, institutionally supported entry point into the Omani market. Combined with the submarine cable connectivity advantage, this is the most compelling non-UAE, non-Saudi AI infrastructure story in the GCC right now.
05
QATAR / KUWAIT / BAHRAIN - Digital Economies · Weekly Check-In
Qatar's QR40 Billion Digital Bet, Kuwait's Readiness Gap, and Bahrain's Governance Milestone
Qatar this week confirmed the full scale of its digital ambition: the Qatar Digital Agenda 2030 has earmarked QR40 billion in investments for the non-hydrocarbon economy, expected to generate approximately 26,000 jobs. The strategy explicitly positions AI, knowledge technology, and global partnerships as the foundations of a resilient, post-hydrocarbon economy. Qatar University’s Spark AI Innovation Hub — built with Google Cloud, including Arabic-language AI research funding from Google.org — is now operational, providing Qatar’s research ecosystem with access to Gemini Enterprise and Google Cloud infrastructure. Qatar’s GovAI Programme partnerships with Malomatia, Accenture, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Oracle, and Scale AI are in active implementation, accelerating AI adoption across government entities in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.
The latest BCG analysis of the GCC confirms Qatar’s positioning: 76% of GCC citizens already accept AI-powered public services, and Qatar’s Hukoomi portal now carries more than 400 digital government services with over 90% of services targeted for full digitalisation. In the UN e-Government Index, Qatar climbed 25 places in a single evaluation cycle — the fastest improvement in the GCC.
- GCC AI Readiness Scores — Oxford Insights
🇦🇪 UAE 70.42 · AI Contender
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia 67.04 · AI Contender
🇶🇦 Qatar 63.59 · AI Practitioner
🇴🇲 Oman 58.94 · AI Practitioner
🇧🇭 Bahrain 56.13 · AI Practitioner
🇰🇼 Kuwait 49.86 · AI Practitioner
Kuwait continues to present the GCC’s clearest gap between AI ambition and AI infrastructure. At 49.86 on the Oxford Insights AI Readiness Index — the lowest in the GCC — and with only five operational data centers (against the UAE’s 57 and Saudi Arabia’s 51), Kuwait’s AI journey is still defined more by its ceiling than its current position. The New Kuwait 2035 vision continues to frame AI investment around citizen quality of life, and the Microsoft digital skills programme is active. The Middle East Institute’s recommendation remains the most pertinent strategic lens available: a national AI infrastructure company — similar to G42, HUMAIN, or Qai — could be Kuwait’s single most accelerating institutional decision.
Bahrain is approaching a governance milestone this week as its standalone AI law continues its passage through the Shura Council. When enacted, it will be the GCC’s most binding AI legislative framework — creating the legal certainty that enterprise AI deployments require. The Central Bank of Bahrain sandbox remains the most active in the region for fintech and AI financial products. Bahrain’s governance-first approach may prove commercially shrewd: IBM’s data shows governance maturity as a key enabler of AI ROI, and Bahrain is the only GCC state building that maturity through binding legislation rather than policy declarations.
GCC AI SNAPSHOT
Where Each Country Stands This Week
Nine editions in, and the GCC’s AI story is getting more complex — not less. The UAE has chosen a lane: full alignment with the US technology ecosystem, backed by a sovereign commitment that goes all the way to export control law. Saudi Arabia has chosen a different lane: maximum optionality, cultivating US, Chinese, and Korean AI partnerships simultaneously. Oman has quietly issued a Royal Decree and opened an AI Special Zone. Bahrain is about to pass the Gulf’s most binding AI law.
These are not random developments. They are the early moves of an AI decade that is being shaped right now — country by country, institution by institution, decree by decree. The Gulf states that move deliberately and play to their specific strengths will define the region’s AI map for the next ten years.
That’s our majlis for this week. As always, share it with someone who needs to understand what’s really happening in Gulf AI — and we’ll see you next Sunday, inshallah. 🫖
