US Eases AI Chip Export Controls for the UAE

The US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has significantly adjusted its AI export control policy by moving the UAE to Country Group A:5. This decision allows approved entities to obtain advanced GPUs without applying for a license, representing a major shift in US policy towards AI technology exports to the Middle East and substantially accelerating regional AI infrastructure development. However, this is not a blanket relaxation, as the policy still incorporates strict security and compliance requirements.

Key Details and Restrictions

According to @pstAsiatech, the regulatory adjustment removes the UAE from EAR's D:3 and D:4 groups and expands the available Strategic Trade Authorization. This makes the UAE the only country not part of relevant multilateral export control regimes to be placed in A:5. However, authorizations for specific local entities like G42 and Core42 are not permanent; they will automatically expire after 270 days unless they "become US companies" or secure renewed BIS approval. BIS will base its approvals on strict metrics including compliance capacity, historical records, security arrangements, and ownership structures.

Approved Entity Whitelist

@Polymarket notes that the move allows Nvidia, AMD, and Cerebras to sell advanced AI chips to the UAE. However, @pstAsiatech adds that the first batch of entities included in the "approved entity" channel primarily consists of US tech giants such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and xAI. This indicates that the mechanism focuses on securing the computing power needs of large multinational tech companies, rather than granting all local UAE data centers free access to advanced chips.

2026-07-11 ~ 2026-07-11 · 5 related posts