AI Chip megafactories in UAE?, China & Iran as 'revisionist quartet' members, Qatar-China museum MoU
Chip Giants TSMC and Samsung Discuss Building Middle Eastern Megafactories - Wall Street Journal. This is really interesting, especially in the context of UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s state visit to the US.
Top executives at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest chip maker, have visited the U.A.E. recently and talked about a plant complex on par with some of the company’s largest and most advanced facilities in Taiwan, according to people familiar with the interactions.
Samsung Electronics also is considering major new chip-making operations in the country in the years ahead, according to other people with knowledge of its strategy. Senior leaders of the South Korean company have visited the U.A.E. recently and discussed the possibility, they said.
Discussions are still in the early phases and face technical and other hurdles that mean they might not pan out. Under initial terms being discussed, the projects would be funded by the U.A.E., with a central role for Abu Dhabi-based sovereign development vehicle Mubadala, which is eager to develop a domestic tech industry. The broader goal would be to increase global chip production and help bring chip prices down without hurting chip-makers’ profitability, some of the people said.
A Mubadala spokesman said MGX, a state-backed company that is spearheading some of Abu Dhabi’s most prominent AI investments, had made semiconductor manufacturing a pillar of its strategy and was “in regular dialogue with partners around the world,” although there are no specific plans currently for a facility in the U.A.E.
The UAE is positioning itself really well here. The China angle is obvious; with all the tech cooperation between the Emirates and China, the possibility of AI chips making their way to China is a consideration:
The chip makers aren’t expecting a resolution of U.S. concerns about China to materialize soon, and construction on the factories likely won’t start until that happens, according to people involved in the discussions.
Great power competition in the Gulf continues, and it looks like the UAE wins again.
UAE's AI firm G42 and Nvidia to team up on climate tech - Reuters. More US-UAE AI cooperation:
United Arab Emirates-based artificial intelligence company G42 has teamed up with U.S. chipmaker Nvidia to work on climate tech, G42 said on Friday, ahead of the first-ever visit to the White House by a president of the UAE next week.
The Gulf-based company said in a statement the two firms would work together develop AI solutions aimed at boosting weather forecasting accuracy globally and will set up an operational base and climate tech lab in Abu Dhabi.
The UAE, led by government-backed G42, is investing heavily in AI to help diversify its economy away from oil and UAE-based companies have forged several deals with U.S. firms recently.
The enduring US-UAE partnership is united by innovation and progress - The National. If you didn’t get enough US-UAE content here over the weekend, a joint op-ed from the ambassadors of both countries looking at some of the features of the bilateral relationship.
A new “quartet of chaos” threatens America - The Economist. Starting in the spring I started receiving invitations to participate in events about the ‘axis’ of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Since then it’s popping up more and more. I suppose it’s not especially a surprise given all of their inclusion in the DOD’s 2+3 framework, with China and Russia as primary threats and framing North Korea, Iran, and terrorism as secondary threats. This is an interesting piece in The Economist looking at how these four are supporting each other:
The members of this new quartet of chaos—whose ideologies range from Islamism to hardline communism—are riven by distrust, and they have very different visions of the world. Yet they are united by a shared hatred of the America-led order, and are keen to deepen their economic and military-industrial links. Their relationships amount to a kind of “strategic transactionalism”, says an American administration official. That is, the four regimes share a systematic intent to conduct bilateral deals that are in each participant’s narrow self interest, and sometimes in the collective interest too.
To get a sense of how deep co-operation is so far, consider three buckets: bullets (ie, weapons transfers), brawn (industrial support) and brains (technology diffusion). Although the first two present the most immediate danger, it is the exchange of military technology and know-how that poses the greater long-term threat to the West’s security and ability to deter adversaries.
In essence, the article is saying they act as force multipliers, a dynamic I wrote about with Li-Chen Sim in this 2022 report for the Atlantic Council on China and Russia in the Middle East. I think our analysis still holds up nicely, despite being written before the 2/24/22 invasion of Ukraine.
Qatar Museums in historic MoU with National Museum of China - Gulf Times. Hey, no (obvious) geopolitics for a change! There’s definitely a need for greater cooperation between the Middle East and China in culture, so a good news story.
Qatar Museums (QM) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Museum of China, marking a significant milestone in international cultural collaboration.
The agreement was signed by National Museum of Qatar director Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Thani and National Museum of China director Gao Zheng.
The MoU underscores the commitment of both institutions to deepen the collaboration and exchange in the field of museums, promoting cultural understanding and strengthening ties between both institutions.
The MoU is under the Qatar-China Friendship Association, a legacy of the Qatar-China Year of Culture in 2016, further enriching the cultural exchange between the two nations.
In a press statement, Sheikh Abdulaziz said: “We are excited to embark on this partnership with the National Museum of China, which will not only strengthen the cultural ties between our countries but also create new opportunities for collaboration in museum innovation, research, and educational programmes. This is an important step toward creating a global understanding of our shared heritage.”
The MoU between QM and National Museum of China establishes a framework for collaboration across key areas, including the exchange of museum experiences, joint exhibitions, academic research, and innovative educational programmes designed to enhance visitor engagement and cultural awareness.
The agreement will promote cultural understanding through shared efforts in archaeology, heritage preservation, and museology, with a focus on global best practices in the protection and documentation of collections. Additionally, it outlines plans for joint exhibitions and travelling showcases to broaden the reach of both institutions' rich histories and collections, as well as cooperative efforts in excavation, restoration, and conservation to preserve important heritage sites.
Zheng indicated that both entities have a lot of potential to cooperate. The agreement promises to deliver enriching cultural exchanges and elevate the museum experiences offered in both nations, benefiting researchers, experts, and museum visitors alike.