The Middle Eastern countries are racing to acquire artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, which are increasingly seen as a powerful tool for enhancing their influence and leadership in the region.
Egypt’s second edition of its National Artificial Intelligence Strategy aims to make the country a hub for AI in the Middle East and Africa by 2030. Israel is a leading AI innovator, eager to share its technical wizardry around the world. One of the goals of Saudi Arabia’s comprehensive development strategy the Vision 2030 is to transform the Kingdom into a leading centre for AI innovation. In like manner, the UAE continues to make great strides as a global leader in AI innovation.
The number of data centres a country possesses is an indicator of its progress in AI infrastructure. According to the latest data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Israel ranks first in the region with 55 data centres. It is followed by Saudi Arabia with 36, the UAE with 34, Iran with 20, Oman with 15, and Egypt with 13.
Although Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE together possess three-quarters of the data centres in the region, other variables come into play. One is the financial resources available to expand AI infrastructure in the coming years. In this regard, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are well positioned to invest considerable sums and attract international investment for this purpose.
A second variable is the ability to develop qualified human resources. Egypt has a relative advantage here with its much larger pool of talent and skilled professionals capable of training AI systems and developing AI models adapted to national contexts.
The intensifying competition among Middle Eastern countries in this field will have a profound effect on regional dynamics at two levels. One concerns relations with the US, which has long asserted strategic hegemony over the region. However, subtle shifts have begun to occur as a consequence of US policy choices.
For example, the restrictions imposed by the US under former president Joe Biden on the export of AI technologies to Middle Eastern countries apart from Israel have led many of these countries to deepen their partnerships with Beijing in this field, offering Chinese companies numerous incentives and facilities to attract their investment. As in other industries, China imposes fewer restrictions on the transfer of AI and cloud technologies to developing countries.
Upon his return to office, President Donald Trump acknowledged that the Biden administration’s policies had undermined American firms’ prospects for technological expansion in Middle Eastern markets and, during his visit to the region in May 2025, he moved to relax the so-called “AI diffusion rule” that had thrown numerous hurdles in the way of US firms wanting to invest there.
Even so, Trump’s measures have done little to pull countries away from the Chinese alternative. In fact, there is every reason to expect Beijing to double down on its investment in what has become a new arena of US-Chinese rivalry over advanced technology and shaping the future of AI in the Middle East.
The second dimension of the regional competition over AI technologies is at the level of what might be termed “AI supremacy.” The strength of a country is no longer measured solely by the size and quality of its military arsenal. AI-related indicators are becoming an increasingly crucial component of both hard and soft power.
The latter includes the ability to market AI models that can perform “inference” tasks, such as image recognition, voice analysis, surveillance, and other algorithmic prediction operations that have become vital in security, intelligence, public safety, and military operations, as well as in non-military fields, such as agriculture, industry, and education.
Israel has made AI a critical instrument of its soft power. Tel Aviv now pursues “AI diplomacy,” which entails exporting AI programmes developed by the NSO Group, the Israeli cyber-intelligence firm notorious for its Pegasus spyware, to combat terrorism and crime. These technologies have come to underpin the bilateral cooperative relations Israel is quietly cultivating in various parts of the world.
In the realm of hard power, AI is now indispensable to defence architecture, so it is at this level that the race to attain AI supremacy is fiercest. The UAE and Saudi Arabia, for example, have launched several initiatives to integrate advanced technologies – AI chief among them – into their defence capabilities, as exemplified by their development of autonomous maritime security and defence platforms.
Israel, for its part, has intensified its efforts to integrate AI into its offensive arsenal. A recent example is its Golden Eagle autonomous drone.
The regional AI technology race has only just begun. As it accelerates and evolves, maintaining a competitive edge will hinge on developing a large and robust base of skills and talents. These factors will largely determine whether a country is a leader or a follower in the AI competition in the region.
The writer is an expert on security policies in the MENA region.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 23 October, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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