Saudi Arabia and the UAE promote AI strategy: snapping up Nvidia chips and absorbing Chinese talents

Source: The Paper

Reporter Fang Xiao

Image source: Generated by Unbounded AI

Saudi Arabia has purchased at least 3,000 Nvidia H100 chips through the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, with a total value of about 120 million US dollars, which will be delivered by the end of 2023. The university will use the chips to build its own large language models.

The UAE State-owned Technology Innovation Institute has developed its own open source large language model Falcon, which was once "one of the best models in the open source world". The UAE government has purchased a batch of new Nvidia chips in preparation for more applications and cloud services related to large language models.

Wealthy Gulf states are joining the global AI arms race.

According to the British "Financial Times" report on August 15, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are buying thousands of Nvidia's high-performance chips to build their own artificial intelligence models and software.

Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have publicly stated their desire to be leaders in artificial intelligence and are pursuing ambitious AI initiatives to boost their economies.

Saudi is building their own big model

According to people familiar with the matter, Saudi Arabia has purchased at least 3,000 Nvidia's H100 chips through the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology), with a total value of about 120 million U.S. dollars, which will be delivered by the end of 2023.

The H100, which costs $40,000, is described by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as "the world's first computer chip designed for generative artificial intelligence." According to the survey, H100 is currently the most needed GPU (graphics processing unit) for training large language models, because it is the fastest for reasoning and training of large models, and is usually the most cost-effective in terms of reasoning.

The world's leading technology companies are scrambling to acquire scarce chips for artificial intelligence development. The Financial Times reported last week that Chinese tech giants such as Tencent and Alibaba are ordering high-performance chips from Nvidia. U.S. companies that develop state-of-the-art large language models, including Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Google, are also buying Nvidia chips. Nvidia will ship about 550,000 H100 chips globally in 2023, mostly to U.S. technology companies, according to multiple sources close to Nvidia and its manufacturer TSMC.

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology also has at least 200 Nvidia A100 chips and is building the Shaheen III supercomputer, which will be operational this year. The machine will run 700 Grace Hoppers, Nvidia's superchip, designed for cutting-edge artificial intelligence applications.

The state-owned university will use the chips to build its own large language model, according to multiple sources close to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. The Financial Times reported that the Provable Responsible AI and Data Analytics lab that developed the model includes many Chinese researchers. They chose to work at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology because the US government's restrictive policy prevented them from studying and working in the United States.

Gulf Sovereign Investment Fund Engages Western Businesses

The UAE, meanwhile, has gained access to thousands of Nvidia chips and has developed its own open-source Big Language Model at the state-owned Technology Innovation Institute in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi. , known as the Falcon.

The large Falcon model, now freely available online, was trained for more than two months on 384 A100 chips earlier this year. "Considering the resources they used, this model impressed me. For a while, it was one of the best models in the open source world." Commented by a leading AI researcher and expert on large language models .

According to a person from the UAE Industrial Development Agency, the UAE government has purchased a batch of new Nvidia chips to prepare for more applications and cloud services related to large language models.

"The UAE has made the decision it wants ... to own and control its own computing power and talent, to have its own platform and not depend on China or the Americans," said a person familiar with the UAE government's thinking. , they have the capital to do it, they have the energy resources to do it, and they are attracting the best talent in the world."

Additionally, both Saudi Arabia and the UAE manage some of the largest and most active sovereign investment funds in the world. Representatives of the funds recently approached Western AI startups offering computing resources in exchange for code and expertise in large language models, but the companies turned them down, according to the chief executives of two European AI companies. invite. "We've had a lot of offers to raise money and acquire data to leverage our talent indirectly," said one of the executives.

AI Ambitions in the Bay Area

The UAE became the first country in the world to establish a Ministry of Artificial Intelligence in 2017, and passed the "National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031" and the "UAE National Artificial Intelligence Plan", hoping to build the status of a global artificial intelligence center.

In April, the UAE launched the "Generative AI Guidelines" as a "commitment to strengthening its global position as a pioneer in technology and AI" and as a "regulatory framework to limit the negative use of the technology".

When OpenAI CEO Sam Altman visited Abu Dhabi in June this year, he praised the UAE for being far-sighted in recognizing the importance of artificial intelligence. The Gulf region can "play a central role in this global conversation around emerging technologies and their regulation," he said.

In July this year, Coursera, one of the world's largest online learning platforms, and YouGov, a British consulting agency, conducted a study on more than 500 business leaders in the UAE. Research shows that 85% of business leaders believe that generative artificial intelligence will reshape their customer service or business operations in the next 3 years, and 91% of business leaders believe that it is critical to business growth.

“The UAE and Saudi Arabia in particular have shown a strong commitment to the development and implementation of AI technologies,” said the report by global consultancy PwC. consumer government support."

The report predicts that AI will account for nearly 14 percent of the UAE's gross domestic product (GDP) and 12.4 percent of Saudi Arabia's GDP by 2030. Artificial intelligence will contribute $135 billion to the Saudi economy, making Saudi Arabia the biggest beneficiary of the technology in the Middle East.

The PwC report predicts the development of AI in the Middle East in 2030.

“Saudi Vision 2030 and National Transformation Plan 2020 identify digital transformation as a key objective to activate economic sectors through economic diversification, support industrial and private sector entities, champion the development of public-private business models and ultimately reduce the country’s dependence on oil revenues. ’ the report stated.

Saudi Arabia's Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has approved the establishment of an international center for artificial intelligence research and ethics in Riyadh, Arab News reported on July 26. The Center works to promote good practice in the adoption of AI technologies, support research, development and initiatives at national and international levels, and ensure the ethical and responsible use of AI.