Nvidia Launches AI Technology In The Middle East Amid US Export Restrictions

JAKARTA - Nvidia has signed an agreement to implement artificial intelligence (AI) technology at a data center belonging to the Qatar telecommunications group Ooredoo, in five Middle Eastern countries. This was said by Ooredoo CEO Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, as reported by Reuters.

The deal marks Nvidia's first major launch in an area where Washington has restricted the export of advanced US chips to prevent Chinese companies from using Middle Eastern countries as backdoors to access the latest AI technology.

This will make Ooredoo the first company in the region capable of providing direct access to its data center clients in Qatar, Algeria, Tunisia, Oman, Kuwait, and the Maldives to Nvidia's AI technology and graphic processing, according to Ooredoo's statement. The provision of this technology will allow Ooredoo to further assist its customers in implementing a generating AI application, said Nvidia's senior vice president in telecommunications, losty Vasishta.

"Our B2B client, thanks to this agreement, will have access to services that their competitors may not have for the next 18 to 24 months," said Ooredoo CEO Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo.

The companies did not disclose the value of the deal, which was signed on the sidelines of the TM Forum in Copenhagen on June 19. Ooredoo also did not reveal the type of Nvidia technology that will be installed in its data center, arguing that it depends on the availability and demand of customers.

Washington has allowed the export of some of Nvidia's technology to the Middle East, but limits exports of the company's most advanced chips.

According to Fakhroo, Ooredoo is investing $1 billion to increase its regional data center capacity by 20-25 additional megawatts above the current 40 megawatts it has, and plans to nearly triple the capacity by the end of the decade.

The company has separated its data center from being a separate company following similar steps last year to create the Middle East's largest tower company in a deal with Zain Kuwait and TASC Towers Holding from Dubai. Ooredoo also has plans to separate its submarine cables and its fiber optic network into separate entities, Fakhroo said.