Overview

• The multibillion-dollar agreement signed in May has not advanced to shipments nearly five months later.
• The pact envisioned several hundred thousand Nvidia AI chips a year for the UAE in return for Emirati funding of U.S. data centers.
• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has held back export licenses until Abu Dhabi formalizes its U.S. investment commitments.
• National-security reviewers have raised concerns that the UAE’s relationship with China could enable indirect access to the chips.
• The holdup has frustrated Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and some administration officials, though one official said as much as $1 billion in investments and chips could still move by year-end.