US President Trump’s Middle East Visit Unlocks Trillion-Dollar Trade and Tech Deals

Trump’s Middle East visit in May 2025 catalyzes investments and tech partnerships across Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar, reshaping the regional business and geopolitical landscape.

US President Donald Trump’s official visit to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar in May 2025 resulted in a wave of business, defense, and technology agreements. These deals, totaling over US$1.8 trillion, represent a renewed US push for strategic economic alignment in the Gulf and a bid to counter China’s influence in the region. Gulf countries, in return, are leveraging these agreements to diversify their economies, expand AI and defense capabilities, and boost their global tech standing.

Saudi Arabia: Energy, AI, and defense dominance

Saudi Arabia pledged over US$600 billion in investment commitments across Artificial Intelligence (AI), defense, minerals, and energy. The largest segment of this engagement was a US$142 billion defense sales agreement, the largest in US history, that includes air force modernization, missile defense, naval security, and advanced communication systems. It also covers training and capacity building for the Saudi armed forces.

Saudi Arabia also agreed to a US$9 billion mining partnership with US firm Burkhan World Investments to exploit lithium, cobalt, and rare earths.

In the tech sector, Saudi-backed AI firm Humain secured partnerships with Nvidia and AMD, facilitating the shipment of 18,000 Blackwell (GB300) chips and a US$10 billion collaboration, respectively. DataVolt, a Saudi tech player, committed US$20 billion toward AI data centers in the US, emphasizing a two-way investment model.

Also, US tech companies including Google, Salesforce, AMD, and Uber entered into an US$80 billion collaboration with Saudi partners to advance AI, cloud computing, and digital services. GE Vernova secured a US$14.2 billion contract for gas turbines and related energy solutions.

Infrastructure and aerospace were also central to Riyadh’s agenda. Boeing will supply Saudi Arabia with 737-8 aircraft worth US$4.8 billion, and USengineering firms such as Jacobs and AECOM will help deliver megaprojects like Qiddiya City and King Salman Park. Meanwhile, NASA signed an agreement with the Saudi Space Agency to include a CubeSat payload in the Artemis II test flight.

United Arab Emirates: AI campus and semiconductor supply

Trump’s UAE leg was marked by a US$1.4 trillion investment pledge over the next decade, with a sharp focus on AI, semiconductor supply, and manufacturing partnerships. The UAE announced a 5-gigawatt AI campus in Abu Dhabi, a 10-square-mile facility in Abu Dhabi with 5 gigawatts of power dedicated to AI data center, described as the largest outside the US, to be built by local AI firm G42 in cooperation with American hyperscalers (large-scale cloud providers).

Under the agreement, the UAE will import up to 500,000 Nvidia chips annually from 2025 to 2027, with 100,000 allocated to G42 and the rest used in US-operated cloud and data services in the region. This move followed Trump’s reversal of prior AI chip export restrictions to the Gulf, which had limited access due to national security concerns.

Also, Etihad Airways committed US$14.5 billion to purchase 28 Boeing 787 and 777X aircraft with GE Aerospace engines. In the energy domain, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) signed a US$60 billion agreement with US oil majors such as ExxonMobil and Occidental Petroleum for joint upstream development.

A bilateral tech framework now aligns UAE’s security regulations with US standards, easing export controls. New partnerships between UAE firms and US tech leaders, including Amazon Web Services, Qualcomm, and Salesforce, further enhance the Emirates’ bid to become an AI and cloud technology powerhouse by 2031.

Qatar: Aviation, quantum, and defense collaboration

Qatar emerged as a major player during President Trump’s visit, with the announcement of over US$243.5 billion in economic deals. Qatar’s highlight was a US$96 billion aviation agreement, involving the acquisition of up to 210 Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777X aircraft, powered by GE Aerospace engines, and is recognized as Boeing’s largest-ever widebody and 787 order. This deal is projected to support 154,000 American jobs annually and over one million jobs throughout the contract duration.

In the energy sector, McDermott’s has partnered with QatarEnergy with seven ongoing infrastructure projects totaling US$8.5 billion. McDermott remains the sole provider of offshore components for Qatar’s LNG expansion, directly linking US energy sector employment to this bilateral cooperation.

Qatar also signaled its entry into advanced computing through a US$1 billion joint venture between Al Rabban Capital and US-based Quantinuum, focused on developing quantum technologies and workforce training. This deal is expected to advance US and Qatari competitiveness in emerging tech sectors.

In defense, two major contracts were finalized. Raytheon secured a US$1 billion counter-drone system deal, making Qatar the first international customer of its Fixed Site – Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aerial System Integrated Defeat System (FS-LIDS). General Atomics entered into a nearly US$2 billion agreement for the supply of MQ-9B remotely piloted aircraft systems.

In addition, the United States and Qatar signed a statement of intent outlining over US$38 billion in prospective investments to strengthen the US-Qatar security partnership. These may include future upgrades at Al Udeid Air Base and expanded cooperation in air defense and maritime security.

Implications for global business and trade environment

The cumulative effect of these deals goes beyond individual transactions. They mark a concerted effort by the United States to anchor its strategic and technological influence in the Gulf amid growing Chinese presence. For American companies, these agreements unlock access to sovereign capital, government-backed megaprojects, and long-term contracts across energy, AI, aerospace, and defense sectors.

Trump’s visit notably reversed the previous administration’s restrictions on AI chip exports to Gulf states. The so-called AI diffusion rule, which prevented access to top-tier US chips due to security concerns with China, has been scrapped. The revised policy requires that Gulf nations receiving US tech infrastructure must operate it under US corporate supervision and align with American security protocols.

From a regulatory standpoint, the Gulf countries are aligning their technology governance with US standards to ensure ongoing tech transfers and partnership eligibility. These shifts reduce compliance risk for businesses operating across jurisdictions and could standardize regional investment protocols.

For Gulf countries, the deals reinforce ambitions to diversify away from hydrocarbons and build innovation-driven economies. Strategic investments in AI campuses, quantum computing, and chip import pipelines are meant to support their respective national visions: Saudi Vision 2030, UAE Centennial 2071, and Qatar National Vision 2030.

US companies will also benefit from Gulf-based manufacturing and logistics expansions. For instance, the AI campus in Abu Dhabi will serve as a regional hub for latency-sensitive computing services to the Global South, enhancing data localization and compliance frameworks.

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