The U.S. government on Friday relaxed export controls on the United Arab Emirates, allowing it to import NVIDIA's advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips, military equipment, commercial satellites and spacecraft without a license. The move marks a further deepening of ties between the two allies and highlights the UAE's growing role in Washington's strategy against Iran, while also creating significant revenue opportunities for U.S. companies, including technology giants.
According to an announcement published in the Federal Register, the official journal of the United States, the UAE government and approved local companies will be able to obtain license-free access to advanced computing products in the future. These entities that have been approved to no longer require import licenses for AI chips and servers include local UAE technology giants G42 and Core42, as well as US companies and their subsidiaries such as Amazon, Apple and xAI operating in the UAE. In addition, American companies such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and Oracle are also on the list of visa-free recipients of advanced computing products. At the same time, the U.S. Department of Commerce also stated that it plans to "supportively review" a license application to export chips and servers to the UAE company MGX.
When explaining the more preferential export treatment given to the UAE, the U.S. Department of Commerce pointed out that the United States has been cooperating with the UAE for decades to jointly fight Iran and its proxies (including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis). The announcement specifically mentioned that the UAE played a key role in advancing U.S. interests in the recent "Operation Epic Fury" launched by the United States and Israel against Iran. In addition, the UAE is the United States' largest trading partner in the Gulf region, and its total foreign direct investment in the United States has exceeded $1 trillion.
Under the new regulations, the U.S. Commerce Department moved the UAE into a group of countries that allows for more license exemptions for military and dual-use products. It is worth noting that the UAE will be the only country in this group that is not a member of the multilateral export control mechanism. Other members in this group are usually NATO countries and other traditional allies. Countries such as Saudi Arabia and Israel in the region are currently not in this group. In addition to AI technology and military supplies, this policy adjustment also allows the UAE to achieve license-free access to certain exports in the fields of oil and gas production and civilian nuclear power generation.
This license-free access policy actually implements the final framework agreement reached in May 2025. At that time, the United States and the United Arab Emirates reached a preliminary consensus, allowing them to import hundreds of thousands of Nvidia AI chips. Previously, due to concerns that relevant UAE companies may provide services to Chinese customers, the United States triggered a heated debate when issuing licenses involving companies such as G42. A former Commerce Department official pointed out that after the new mechanism is implemented, there will be no room for debate within the administration.
However, the move has drawn strong opposition from Elizabeth Warren, the ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. Warren accused in the statement that the UAE royal family who control G42 and MGX had secretly purchased 49% of the shares of Trump’s cryptocurrency company World Liberty Financial, but now the Department of Commerce has given G42 license-free access to advanced AI chips and promised to give preferential treatment to MGX, completely ignoring concerns that sensitive technology may flow to China and other national security risks. Currently, the U.S. Department of Commerce has not responded to relevant requests for comment.