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G42
10 developments involving G42 in 9 countries and bodies. The most recent is Microsoft plans more than $10bn in Gulf cloud and AI spending through 2030, 23 Sep 2026.
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- Microsoft plans more than $10bn in Gulf cloud and AI spending through 2030
Gulf governments building national AI programmes get more Microsoft data centre capacity and sovereign cloud options through 2030.
- US moves UAE into top export tier, allowing licence-free AI chip exports to approved users
G42, Core42, UAE government agencies and eight named US firms can receive advanced AI chips in the UAE without a licence, with G42 and Core42’s approval expiring 6 April 2027.
- US authorises Blackwell chip exports to G42 and HUMAIN, up to 35,000 each
The licences let the Gulf’s two state-backed AI companies start filling the data centres announced in May 2025 with US chips, under conditions set by Washington.
- MBZUAI and G42 release K2 Think, a 32-billion-parameter open reasoning model
Researchers got a reasoning model from a Gulf university with its training data and code published alongside the weights, so its results can be reproduced and studied.
- Stargate UAE: 1GW OpenAI cluster planned in Abu Dhabi, first 200MW due in 2026
The UAE gets 200MW of a planned 1GW OpenAI cluster in 2026, and the partnership includes Emirati investment in US Stargate infrastructure in return.
- Microsoft and G42 plan a $1bn geothermal-powered cloud and AI push in Kenya
Kenya was promised a new Azure East Africa cloud region powered by geothermal energy, with AI models built for Swahili speakers.
- 16 AI companies sign Frontier AI Safety Commitments at the AI Seoul Summit
Labs in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East put in writing that they would publish risk thresholds and stop work on any model that crossed them.
- Microsoft invests $1.5bn in Abu Dhabi’s G42 and moves it onto Azure
The deal tied the UAE’s main AI company to a US cloud and to binding compliance terms agreed with the US and UAE governments, which later US-UAE compute deals built on.
- Abu Dhabi sets up MGX to invest in AI infrastructure, chips and models
The UAE gave itself a state-backed vehicle to buy into data centres, chips and AI companies abroad, and AI firms seeking capital gained a large Gulf investor.
- Abu Dhabi’s G42 and Cerebras unveil Condor Galaxy 1, a 4-exaflop AI supercomputer
A UAE state-linked group bought AI training capacity at scale from a non-NVIDIA supplier, placing Gulf money in US-hosted compute.