Gulf

1. UAE-US AI campus and…
2. …Abu Dhabi’s tech plans
3. Boeing’s huge Qatar order
4. Aramco’s $90B US deals
5. UAE invests in Turkmenistan

The Gulf was draped in Americana this week.

US President Donald Trump’s Gulf tour wrapped up about two hours ago. He repeatedly called it historic, emphasizing close personal and diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, while touting ever-growing tallies of the investments he attracted to the US. UAE companies signed $200 billion worth of deals, as part of the $1.4 trillion President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed already committed.

Abu Dhabi was Trump’s final stop, where he praised the Emirati leader as a “great warrior” and “a man of vision like few others.” Trump said the US-UAE relationship “can’t get better” because it’s at the “highest level it can be.”

The positive messages were echoed throughout the trip. While there were mentions of nuclear talks with Iran and the suffering in Gaza, Trump and his hosts focused on peace and opportunity — in both the Gulf and the US. Weapons deals were signed, but the spotlight was on tech, especially artificial intelligence and its infrastructure.

At his final meeting with business leaders in Abu Dhabi, Trump joked that many of the investments announced wouldn’t be completed during his administration and that future presidents would take the credit, reminding reporters that “this guy did it.”

Judging by the reaction from officials, Arabic media, and people across the Gulf, few here are likely to forget what the US president accomplished this week.

The UAE secures the chips

The UAE has clinched its chips — and then some. US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Gulf culminated in the announcement of plans for a UAE-US AI Campus spread out over 10 miles in Abu Dhabi, constructed by artificial intelligence firm G42. The project, which will be the biggest of its kind in the world, aims to help American AI companies serve customers located within 2,000 miles of the site, the Trump administration said, and catapults the UAE’s advanced technology ambitions far forward.

With 5 gigawatts of planned power capacity by 2030 the plan is “OTT,” one technology analyst told Semafor. The specs are “bigger than all other major AI infrastructure announcements we’ve seen so far,” a compute expert from the RAND Corporation, a US think tank, posted on X.

The two countries’ plan to deepen AI collaboration comes as some in the White House have reportedly expressed concern over supplying the Gulf with advanced semiconductors. But things are moving ahead with a preliminary agreement to allow Abu Dhabi to import 500,000 advanced Nvidia AI chips annually, Reuters reported.

Analysis: How the UAE sees AI

The UAE’s appetite for AI investment — both at home and abroad — shows no signs of slowing. The strategy predates the large language model boom and is part of a broader push to fuel the country’s next phase of development, writes former Emirati official Tareq Alotaiba in a Semafor column.

“AI is exponential: the more you have, the faster you can develop,” Alotaiba wrote. “Once states reach a critical threshold where AI assists in designing better AI, those that lead in the race will be nearly impossible to catch. The UAE understands this.”

Qatar adds to Trump’s Gulf tally

US President Donald Trump’s visit to Doha, his second stop on his Gulf tour, produced a major plane deal, but not the one you’d expect. Qatar Airways ordered up to 210 Boeing widebody jets with GE Aerospace engines, an agreement valued at $96 billion. The White House said the deal would create over 1 million jobs over its duration and was part of $243.5 billion in agreements spanning energy, infrastructure, and technology. (The headline figure from Doha: $1.2 trillion in “economic commitments” — about six times the country’s GDP.)

This was the first state visit by a US president to Qatar, a gas-rich nation with one of the world’s highest per capita incomes and home to a major US air base. At the emir’s palace, Trump highlighted his personal friendship with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and praised the “perfecto” white marble construction. Administration officials shared images of the opulent space, which Trump called a “nice house.”

Aramco signs new US deals

The potential value of agreements Aramco signed with US companies during President Donald Trump’s visit to Riyadh. There were 34 deals in the energy sector, covering liquefied natural gas, fuels, chemicals, AI, manufacturing, asset management, and climate tech. One of the biggest is between Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, and ExxonMobil to expand an oil refinery into petrochemicals. Amazon agreed to collaborate on digital transformation, while Nvidia will provide chips for AI data centers. Overall, Saudi Arabia pledged to invest $600 billion in the US over the next four years and the kingdom’s crown prince said the country would work to boost the figure to $1 trillion.

ADNOC buys into Turkmenistan gas

XRG, the international investment arm of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., is acquiring a stake in an offshore gas and condensate field in Turkmenistan. Formed last year, XRG holds assets worth more than $80 billion and plans to double that over the next decade by capitalizing on the energy transition and surging power demand driven by artificial intelligence. The gas block in Turkmenistan holds over 7 trillion cubic feet of reserves and currently produces around 400 million cubic feet of gas per day. Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas is the majority owner and operator with a 57% stake, with XRG acquiring a 38% interest.

Health care

• Elon Musk’s Neuralink is landing in Abu Dhabi for its first clinical trial outside North America. The brain-computer interface company has partnered with Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and the Department of Health to explore how people living with speech impairments might use thoughts to control devices and communicate.
• Nurses are being elevated to gold status: Those who have worked for Dubai Health for more than 15 years are now eligible for 10-year residency permits, aka a golden visa, as the profession continues to be plagued by staffing shortages. — The National

Finance

• Botim, one of the UAE’s most popular messaging platforms, is making progress on becoming a super-app. Parent company Astra Tech has partnered with UAE digital bank Mbank to add a pre-paid cash card to its offerings.
• A top Chinese investment bank is hanging a shingle in DIFC: CICC will open a branch as Dubai deepens ties with the world’s second-largest economy.

Stocks

• The frenzy for new share listings in the Gulf continues. A $1.1 billion stake in Saudi budget carrier Flynas and a $487 million offering from Dubai Residential REIT, a property trust owned by Dubai’s ruler, sold out within minutes. — Bloomberg
• Saudi Arabia is reportedly revamping its “derivatives market framework” in an effort to attract high frequency trading firms and boost trading volumes, which are far below similar-sized markets. — Bloomberg

Fears of an economic downturn and consumer belt-tightening will test Wall Street’s favorite new business model: subscriptions for everything, Semafor’s Liz Hoffman writes.

Fueling this trend is a Wall Street money machine ensorceled by these steady payments. Because those cash streams can be forecast more reliably than episodic sales, they can be borrowed against.

But now two forces are testing that model. First, consumers are terrified about the economy and cutting back on some spending. Second, regulators are cracking down on the mazes of corporate trickery and psychological nudges that make it hard for customers to cancel.