Ooredoo CEO: U.S. chip curbs in Middle East have no impact on Nvidia deal

• This week, Ooredoo signed a partnership with Nvidia, marking the chipmaker's first significant entry into the Middle East market. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
• Nvidia GPUs will be deployed in 26 data centers across Qatar and five other countries, including Kuwait, Oman, Algeria, Tunisia, and the Maldives.
• The data centers will process large amounts of information with the help of these chips, which will be used by AI chatbots and other tools to strengthen a country's AI infrastructure.

Ooredoo, a Qatari telecoms provider, announced on Wednesday that its partnership with is in compliance with all U.S. regulations and will still enable it to obtain the latest technology.

Ooredoo has partnered with a chipmaker earlier this week, marking the company's first significant entry into the Middle East market. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

Nvidia's GPUs will be deployed in 26 data centers across Qatar and five other countries to process massive amounts of information for AI chatbots and other tools, which are crucial components of a country's AI infrastructure.

The United States imposed restrictions on the sale of advanced chips to some Middle Eastern countries last year, due to concerns that the technology could be intercepted by China.

Nvidia has announced plans to create less powerful chips for export to the Chinese market, despite restrictions on A100 and H100 chips. The company has stated that it will continue to export some Nvidia chips to the region, but the focus of the restrictions is on these specific chips, not GPUs.

Ooredoo informed CNBC that the partnership is in compliance with all U.S. regulations. No new licenses for different chips have been created under the partnership.

Ooredoo's CEO stated to CNBC that as a telecom operator, dealing with strict regulations is a routine part of our business. We are accustomed to interacting with regulators and government authorities, whether they are local or international.

He stated that they were closely collaborating with regulators and Nvidia to obtain necessary approvals and provide guarantees.

The tug of war between China and the United States over the latest artificial intelligence technology has been ongoing, with the United Arab Emirates' top AI group G42 ultimately deciding to phase out Chinese hardware in order to appease Washington. This move was later followed by a deal with Microsoft worth $1.5 billion.

Gulf states are utilizing their substantial energy wealth to attempt to be leaders in artificial intelligence, by investing in the technology's development and importing large quantities of chips used in AI data centers.

Ooredoo's CEO states that the chips are the latest generation GPUs, designed specifically for artificial intelligence, and will enable the delivery of extreme machine learning and model utilization of these AI models and generative AI.

Citizen services for governments and corporations will use them to improve productivity and efficiency in research and development.

Ooredoo and Nvidia's cloud partnership aims to establish Nvidia as the central source for AI technology in the region, driving innovation, development, and creating jobs. The partnership will provide access to Nvidia's latest full-stack AI platform, catering to both Ooredoo and non-Ooredoo customers through independent data centers.

Ooredoo CEO Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo announced that his company will invest $1 billion to increase its regional data center capacity, even before partnering with Nvidia. He expects this investment to be returned in the future.

"Our cloud-based AI demand is already surpassing our most optimistic investment plan, so we expect to exceed that investment in the next three to five years."

Ooredoo, backed by the Qatar Investment Authority and listed in both Qatar and Abu Dhabi, plans to create an AI-driven platform powered by Nvidia to meet market demand.

Nvidia surpassed Microsoft as the world's most valuable company last week, but then reversed course in Tuesday trade, ending a three-day losing streak that erased over $550 billion from its market value.