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G42 to purchase Nvidia’s AI chips: UAE tech giant G42 has started receiving AI chips from US chipmaker Nvidia after the US government approved the sale earlier this year without making the transaction public, Semafor reports, citing people familiar with the matter. This includes Nvidia’s H100 chips, a graphics processing unit (GPU) chip which “delivers exceptional performance, scalability, and security,” according to the chipmaker.
G42 has begun deploying the AI chips at its data centers, after removing China-made hardware from the centers, making “long-term investments” to ensure data protection, and using hardware solely manufactured by Western nations, which has swayed US officials to accept the transaction, according to Semafor’s sources.
US defense tech is being used to lock down G42’s data centers: The data centers are equipped with military-grade encryption and are isolated from other systems, including security cameras and cooling, to prevent potential attacks. Additionally, G42 has reportedly tapped US defense department contractors to test and secure its data centers against potential breaches, particularly by China, according to the news platform.
Background: G42 secured a USD 1.5 bn investment from Microsoft that should see the firm receiving large-scale AI components, including the Nvidia chips, alongside the two partnering on AI investments abroad. Concerns that the US might pull the plug on the partnership have been swirling for a few months, with reports that Pentagon officials are doubting G42’s commitment to fully divest from China, despite reports that it has already sold all its stake in China.
The UAE isn’t the first GCC nation to secure Nvidia’s chips, with Qatar’s telco Ooredoo recently purchasing thousands of Nvidia’s AI GPUs as part of its GPU-as-a-service offering. A year ago, Saudi Arabia also acquired some 3k H100 chips in a transaction worth USD 120 mn, and could also gain access to Nvidia’s H200 chips next year as the US government mulls greenlighting the move.
