According to a Wall Street Journal report citing sources familiar with the matter, a high-profile agreement for Nvidia to supply its artificial intelligence chips to the United Arab Emirates has been stalled for nearly five months after its initial announcement.
The delay has led to mounting frustration for Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and some officials in the White House. The transaction was projected to serve as a flagship for a renewed American tech export agenda, but concrete progress remains elusive.
Under the arrangement unveiled in May, the UAE committed to investing in the United States in return for access to potentially hundreds of thousands of Nvidia AI chips annually. However, as of now, no investment from the UAE has materialized.
Final approval for the deal rests with the U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, a pivotal figure in greenlighting both the UAE’s investments in American ventures and the export of advanced chips to the Gulf nation, the WSJ reported.
The Commerce Department has pushed the UAE to complete its U.S. investment commitment before authorizing the export of Nvidia’s chips, a stance that has contributed to the ongoing impasse.
Further complicating factors are strategic worries about national security, particularly given the UAE’s geographic and political closeness to China. These reservations have intensified scrutiny around the potential transfer of advanced technology.
Scrutiny over Nvidia’s international sales—especially to the UAE and China—has increased significantly in 2025, as President Trump’s administration takes steps to exert tighter controls over exports of cutting-edge AI products. Meanwhile, Chinese authorities have encouraged domestic firms to steer clear of foreign-manufactured AI hardware, posing yet another challenge for Nvidia’s overseas business.
