Senior government officials from the US, the UK, and the EU arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to voice their concerns over goods exported by the UAE to Russia that could potentially be used in military applications. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the focus of the visit is to discuss trade sanctions on Russia and collectively warn the UAE against exporting dual-use goods such as advanced microchips that could support Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine. The envoys are reportedly examining the purchase of Nvidia chips used to build AI software.

Why does it matter?

The UAE and Saudi Arabia are buying thousands of advanced chips from the US and elsewhere in a race to build large AI language models. The concern of the US and its allies is that these high-performance dual-use chips could be used to develop advanced military technology. Last week, Washington moved to restrict high-end semiconductor technology exports from US chipmakers Nvidia and AMD, targeting their shipments of AI chips to the Middle East.