Nvidia to launch in Middle East amid U.S. curbs on AI exports to region, Ooredoo CEO says By Reuters

Written by Andrew Mills

DOHA (Reuters) – Nvidia (NASDAQ:) has signed an agreement to deploy its artificial intelligence technology in data centers owned by Qatari telecommunications group Ooredoo in five countries in the Middle East, Ooredoo’s CEO told Reuters.

The agreement represents Nvidia’s first large-scale launch in the region, to which Washington has restricted the export of advanced American chips to prevent Chinese companies from using Middle Eastern countries as a back door to access the latest artificial intelligence technologies.

Ooredoo said in a statement that it will make Ooredoo the first company in the region able to give customers of its data centers in Qatar, Algeria, Tunisia, Oman, Kuwait and the Maldives direct access to Nvidia’s artificial intelligence and graphics processing technology.

Ronnie Vashishta, Senior Vice President of Communications at Nvidia, said that providing this technology will allow Ooredoo to better help its customers deploy generative AI applications.

“Thanks to this agreement, our corporate customers will be able to access services that their competitors will likely not be able to for another 18 to 24 months,” Ooredoo CEO Aziz Al Othman Fakhroo told Reuters in an interview.

The two companies did not disclose the value of the deal, which was signed on the sidelines of the TM Forum in Copenhagen last June 19.

Ooredoo also did not reveal what type of Nvidia technology it will install in its data centres, saying it depends on availability and customer demand.

Washington allows the export of some NVIDIA technologies to the Middle East, but restricts exports of the company’s most advanced chips.

Fakhro said that Ooredoo is investing $1 billion to enhance the capacity of its regional data centers by an additional 20 to 25 megawatts in addition to the 40 megawatts it currently has, and plans to increase this almost three times by the end of the decade.

The company split its data centers into a separate company after a similar move last year to create the largest tower company in the Middle East in a deal with Kuwait’s Zain and Dubai’s Task Towers Holding Company.

Fakhro said Ooredoo also has plans to split its submarine cable and fiber network into a separate entity.