Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are buying large quantities of high-performance Nvidia chips, which are essential for developing artificial intelligence (AI) software. This is part of a global AI competition that is causing a shortage of these valuable chips from Silicon Valley.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have publicly expressed their desire to become leaders in AI. They have ambitious plans to use AI technology to boost their economies. However, this drive has also raised concerns about how these powerful tools could be misused by the leaders of these oil-rich countries.
According to Financial Times, sources familiar with the matter claim that Saudi Arabia has purchased at least 3,000 of Nvidia’s H100 chips. These chips, which cost around $40,000 each, are a type of processor specifically designed for generative AI, which is AI that can create things. The purchases were made through a public research institution named King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
At the same time, the UAE has also acquired thousands of Nvidia chips. It has even created its own AI model called Falcon, which can understand and generate human-like language. This model was created at the state-owned Technology Innovation Institute in Abu Dhabi.
Governments of Saudi Arabia and the UAE are purchasing Nvidia chips through their state-owned entities. This is happening as major tech companies around the world are scrambling to get their hands on these chips for their AI projects.
KAUST in Saudi Arabia will receive 3,000 of these special chips, which will be worth about $120 million by the end of 2023.
To put it into perspective, a previous AI model developed by OpenAI used around 1,024 chips and took just over a month to train. This means that KAUST will have access to more powerful chips and will be able to train AI models more quickly.
The Saudi university is developing a supercomputer called Shaheen III, which will be operational this year. It will be powered by Nvidia’s high-performance chips, which are designed for cutting-edge AI research.
The UAE, in contrast, is putting its focus on AI that is related to language. Its Falcon model was trained on 384 of these chips over two months. This model impressed experts and investors, including Marc Andreessen, an American venture capitalist.
