backIntroduction
Across the Middle East, and the GCC in particular, AI has become embedded in long-term national visions and digital strategies. This is based on the premise that AI is a key tool and facilitator for the economic diversification of these countries away from the oil sector and can drive growth, including through AI-powered advancements across a multitude of sectors. By forging international alliances and leveraging their substantial sovereign wealth and abundant energy resources, GCC countries are attracting vast amounts of foreign investment and collaboration initiatives which promise to enhance infrastructure and services as well as promote training and retention of local talent.
This article is an overview of the government-backed AI strategies that are enabling investment and major development projects in AI and the roles of key players (both local and foreign) involved in such endeavors. This article is the first in a series in which we will explore AI, its developments, opportunities and risks, with a focus on the Middle East whilst bringing perspectives from time to time from other regions, such as the U.S. and Europe.
National Strategies and AI
As is typical in the region when it comes to various sectors, government entities are taking the lead in coordinating funding and infrastructure development in connection with national AI strategies. At the same time, government regulators are focused on developing governance and regulatory frameworks, grounded in data protection and strong ethical guidelines, that are novel and world-leading but also create a high level of regulatory certainty for local and foreign investors involved in AI-related projects. All of this is designed to create sovereign AI capability in the region with long-term national visions and digital strategies.
United Arab Emirates
The UAE is taking a national approach to AI as part of a broader long‑term vision to modernize public services, catalyze non‑oil growth, and position the country as a regional digital and AI infrastructure hub.
In October 2017, the UAE launched the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031, establishing a ten-year roadmap to embed AI across the economy and public administration and to position the country as a global leader in AI by 2031. This strategy targets priority sectors that both anchor near-term demand for compute and cloud capacity and showcase nation-scale use cases. These sectors include water, transport, energy, logistics, tourism, healthcare and cybersecurity. These sectoral priorities guide procurement, pilot programs and public-private collaboration in the UAE.
Consistent with that vision, the UAE government has paired policy with institutions and delivery programs. The UAE appointed His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama, who became the world's first Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence in 2017 to oversee digital economy and remote work strategies, focusing on establishing the UAE as a global leader in AI and digital transformation.
So far, the UAE has developed and released the National Program for AI (i.e. an operational program and ecosystem that includes initiatives such as advanced training, promotes responsible AI adoption and supports the UAE’s long‑term vision to become a global leader in artificial intelligence by 2031, Digital Dubai ethics frameworks (i.e. a city‑level, non‑binding set of AI principles and guidelines to ensure the responsible development, deployment, and governance of AI systems in Dubai) and established Abu Dhabi’s Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology Council (AIATC), which now steers AI infrastructure and investment across Abu Dhabi. The build-out of compute, cloud and model capabilities in the UAE has been facilitated by sovereign-aligned capital (e.g., G42 and Khazna) investing with local and international players in hyperscale data centers, high performance computing and local foundation models, including the Arabic JAIS large language model. The UAE’s most high-profile project to date is the “Stargate” project, a 5GW AI data center complex in Abu Dhabi, established as a joint venture involving G42, MGX, OpenAI, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle and Softbank. The first 200MW is expected to go live later in 2026.
Saudi Arabia
The National Strategy for Data and Artificial Intelligence (NSDAI) is Saudi Arabia’s official national AI strategy. It was launched in 2020 and is led by the Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA) as a core pillar of Vision 2030. NSDAI aims to position Saudi Arabia as a global leader in data and artificial intelligence by 2030. The strategy focuses on leveraging data and AI to drive economic diversification, productivity, innovation, and public‑sector efficiency, while ensuring national data sovereignty and security.
The strategy is implemented under SDAIA, supported by each of the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence, the National Data Management Office, and the National Information Centre. These entities coordinate AI policy, data governance, infrastructure, and cross‑government execution.
NSDAI is targeting to attract SAR 75 billion (~USD20 billion) in AI‑related investment and being home to over 300 AI and data startups by 2030. Priority sectors under NSDAI include government and smart services, energy and industrials, healthcare and life sciences, financial services and fintech, transport, logistics, and smart cities.
According to the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Saudi Arabia has announced nearly USD15 billion of investment in AI and emerging technologies which includes Microsoft's USD2 billion investment to develop AI-powered data centers, Groq’s USD1.5 billion commitment to expand its inference infrastructure in the Kingdom, and Salesforce's USD500 million investment which also supports training 30,000 Saudi nationals by 2030.
This has culminated in the launch of HUMAIN, the AI company majority-owned by the Public Investment Fund with Aramco having a significant minority stake. HUMAIN is partnering with Qualcomm, NVIDIA, AWS, AMD and Cisco to build a world leading full-stack AI platform.
Further enhancing its initiatives in AI, Saudi Arabia has issued the Implementing Regulations of the Cloud Computing and Information Technology Special Economic Zone (Cloud SEZ), marking a significant development in the Kingdom’s regulatory framework for digital infrastructure and cloud services. The regulations establish a self-contained legal and regulatory framework applicable exclusively within the Cloud SEZ. Licensed entities benefit from targeted exemptions from several general commercial laws, including tax and employment compliance breaks, creating a more flexible operating environment tailored to cloud and IT activities.
Qatar, Oman and Bahrain
Qatar has one of the most articulated AI governance structures in the GCC, anchored in its National AI Strategy, which supports Qatar National Vision 2030 and is implemented under the leadership of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. In addition to the strategy, Qatar has established centralized governance bodies (including an Artificial Intelligence Committee created by Cabinet decision) and stands out for having binding AI related guidelines in the financial sector: the Artificial Intelligence Guidelines applicable to Qatar Central Bank licensed financial institutions, which set requirements around model governance, oversight, and risk management. In December 2025, Qai (the AI subsidiary of the Qatar Investment Authority) announced a strategic partnership with Brookfield to co-develop AI infrastructure in Qatar and other regions. For Brookfield, this is part of its larger AI programme which will be facilitated by its launch of the Brookfield Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Fund or “BAIF”.
Oman has adopted a national, strategy-led approach to AI, embedding it within Oman Vision 2040 and a dedicated National Program for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Digital Technologies. The priorities include integrating AI across key economic sectors, establishing national AI infrastructure (such as open data platforms and an AI R&D center, and improving Oman’s position in global AI readiness indices). While a comprehensive, binding AI statute is still pending, a National Artificial Intelligence Policy was published in April 2025 and has undergone public consultation. Its objective is to establish technical controls and ethical principles for the responsible and secure use and development of AI systems within Oman.
On the investment side, the state’s sovereign wealth arm, Oman Investment Authority, and wider digital economy initiatives are actively positioning AI as a priority asset class, backing data center, cloud, and applied AI projects and using incentives and zones to attract foreign and domestic AI ventures.
Bahrain frames AI within a broader digital economy and innovation agenda led by government modernization and pro-investment policies, but it is also moving towards more formal AI regulation. A standalone Artificial Intelligence Regulation Law was proposed in April 2024 to regulate AI development and deployment, including the creation of an AI governance unit, licensing of certain AI activities, allocation of civil liability, and administrative penalties for non-compliance, although the current legislative status of this draft remains ambiguous. In parallel, Bahrain continues to promote AI use in government services and the private sector under existing data protection, cybersecurity, and financial services rules, which together provide the primary binding framework pending a specific AI statute.
Conclusion
The GCC is positioning itself as a global AI powerhouse, pursuing a strategy of AI sovereignty that spans the entire value chain from infrastructure and data centres to compute capacity (through access to NVIDIA chips) and the development of Arabic-language large language models. There is also a clear ambition for the GCC to serve as a strategic bridge between the US and European AI ecosystems.
While each GCC state has adopted a distinct focus within its AI strategy, a common thread unites them: coordinated government policy, legislative reform, regulatory innovation, and substantial capital deployment, all directed towards establishing the region as an independent and compelling alternative centre for AI development and investment.
This “whole-of-government” approach will generate significant opportunities across multiple sectors, each of which will be explored in greater depth in future articles:
- Digital infrastructure development (including data centre development)
- Energy (including power and oil and gas)
- Smart cities and giga-projects
- Logistics and trade
- Telecommunications, driven by increased connectivity demands
- Healthcare, life sciences, and biotechnology
- Financial services and fintech
- Government services
For companies seeking to capitalise on this AI-focused transformation, the GCC offers a receptive regulatory environment and an increasingly sophisticated business ecosystem – one designed to position the region as a premier destination for AI investment.