U.S. Tech Giants Score Major AI Deals as Trump Tours Gulf, Nvidia Leads the Charge

U.S. tech firms just landed a wave of AI deals across the Middle East, with Nvidia, Cisco, and others inking agreements as President Trump tours the Gulf region, boasting $600 billion in AI investment commitments from Saudi Arabia alone.

At the center of the frenzy is Nvidia, which will sell hundreds of thousands of its newest “Blackwell” AI chips to Saudi Arabia, including an initial shipment of 18,000 chips going to Humain, the kingdom’s newly launched AI startup backed by its sovereign wealth fund. Trump is also expected to greenlight a major chip deal with the UAE later this week.

Meanwhile, Cisco announced a partnership with the UAE’s G42 to explore joint development in cybersecurity and AI infrastructure. On the flip side, Saudi Arabia’s DataVolt will pump $20 billion into U.S.-based AI data centers and energy infrastructure, and a group of firms including Google, Oracle, Salesforce, AMD, and Uber are expected to invest $80 billion in collaborative projects between the two regions.

The deals mark a dramatic contrast with the U.S.'s AI chip policy toward China, where exports of top-tier semiconductors remain tightly restricted. With Trump leveraging America’s AI dominance as a geopolitical tool, it’s clear the tech race is no longer just about innovation—it’s become global strategy.