Trump vows to strengthen UAE ties; AI campus unveiled in Abu Dhabi

The United States and the United Arab Emirates agreed to set up an AI acceleration partnership framework to boost cooperation on critical technologies, the US Commerce Department said on Thursday while President Donald Trump visited the Middle East.

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced deals totaling over $200bn between the United States and the United Arab Emirates, including a $14.5bn commitment between Boeing, GE Aerospace and Etihad Airways, the White House said.

A new 5GW UAE-US AI campus in Abu Dhabi was unveiled Thursday during US President Donald Trump's visit to the United Arab Emirates, the Commerce Department said, as the Gulf country tries to boost construction of data centers vital to developing artificial intelligence models.

"The new AI campus, the largest outside of the US, will be home to US hyperscalers and large enterprises that can leverage the capacity for regional compute with the ability to serve the Global South," the Commerce Department said in a statement.

President Donald Trump on Thursday pledged to strengthen US ties to the United Arab Emirates on a visit to the Gulf state that is expected to deepen cooperation on artificial intelligence.

Trump began a visit to the UAE on the latest stage of a tour of Gulf states after hailing plans by Doha to invest $10bn in a US military facility during a trip to Qatar.

"I have absolutely no doubt that the relationship will only get bigger and better," Trump said in a meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

"Your wonderful brother came to Washington a few weeks ago and he told us about your generous statement as to the 1.4 trillion," Trump said, referring to a UAE pledge to invest $1.4 trillion in the US over 10 years.

Trump was referring to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Sheikh Mohamed's brother and the UAE's national security adviser and chairman of two of Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth funds.

"And all I can say is thank you very much," Trump added. "We will work very hard to deserve it."