Infrastructure

ADNOC put AI across its whole rig fleet, and the critical data never leaves the country

The software is American. The cloud is Emirati. That pairing is becoming the default shape of Gulf AI deals.

A rendering of a drilling rig connected to a remote operations centre

Chandni Melwani · UAE · Aug 6, 2026

Infrastructure

Nvidia is helping pay for the data centre that will buy its chips

A Korean internet company, an American chipmaker and a Canadian asset manager are building Korea's national AI capacity together. Look at who is funding whom.

A data centre hall with rows of black and white cabinets under blue overhead cabling

Chandni Melwani · South Korea · Jul 24, 2026

Infrastructure

The UAE spent two years winning access to American AI chips. Now it is renting them out.

For a Gulf bank, the question was never whether sovereign AI was a good idea. It was what it costs, and who has to file the export paperwork. There is finally an answer to both.

Executives from e& UAE and Core42 signing a partnership agreement

Chandni Melwani · UAE · Jul 22, 2026

Infrastructure

Microsoft is paying to put Azure's European customers on compute it does not own

Europe is trying to build its own AI sovereignty and rent it back. A US hyperscaler is underwriting the capex, and structuring the cheque to stay clear of Brussels.

An aisle between rows of metal electrical control cabinets in a factory

Chandni Melwani · Europe · Jul 21, 2026

Infrastructure

Microsoft's Copilot is plugging into the UAE's sovereign AI, and the government data stays in the country

The US productivity layer now runs on Gulf sovereign infrastructure, a template for how American software stays inside GCC government AI.

Yellow fibre-optic patch cords crossing between green connectors on a numbered termination panel

Chandni Melwani · UAE · Jul 18, 2026

Infrastructure

A US infrastructure fund just committed up to $2 billion to the systems that keep Gulf data centers running

The money is split between digital infrastructure and district cooling, the two layers a data center in the Saudi heat can't run without.

Dense insulated pipework, valves and pressure vessels inside an industrial plant room, in black and white

Chandni Melwani · Saudi Arabia · Jul 16, 2026

Infrastructure

Saudi Arabia wants to run its own AI. It's turning to Canada's Cohere to build it.

Cohere and PIF-backed Humain will deploy 50MW of AI compute in Saudi Arabia for sovereign and Arabic-language foundation models, marking Cohere's first major international expansion.

A Saudi city skyline at night, high-rise towers lit above dense low-rise blocks and traffic

Chandni Melwani · Saudi Arabia · Jul 10, 2026

Infrastructure

Canada's $220M Sovereign AI Deal: Bell, Cohere, HIVE

Bell Canada, Cohere, HIVE Digital & Hypertec sign $220M sovereign AI infrastructure deal deploying 2,304 NVIDIA GB200 GPUs on Canadian soil.

A lake in British Columbia ringed by forested mountains under broken cloud

Chandni Melwani · Canada · Jul 1, 2026

The Exchange

The UAE spent years getting permission to buy advanced AI chips. Powering them is the longer wait.

ADNOC put AI across its whole rig fleet, and the critical data never leaves the country

Nvidia is helping pay for the data centre that will buy its chips

The UAE spent two years winning access to American AI chips. Now it is renting them out.

Microsoft is paying to put Azure's European customers on compute it does not own

Microsoft's Copilot is plugging into the UAE's sovereign AI, and the government data stays in the country

A US infrastructure fund just committed up to $2 billion to the systems that keep Gulf data centers running

Saudi Arabia wants to run its own AI. It's turning to Canada's Cohere to build it.

Canada's $220M Sovereign AI Deal: Bell, Cohere, HIVE

The Exchange

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