The U.S. is tapping Gulf nations to win the artificial intelligence race.
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are set to join Pax Silica, a U.S.-led initiative aimed at securing the supply chains for AI and computer chips. The move would give the U.S. access to two of the world’s richest sovereign funds as it tries to reduce reliance on China for the raw materials and computing power behind AI.
Qatar is expected to sign the Pax Silica declaration on January 12, followed by the UAE on January 15, according to the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg. The two Gulf states would join Israel, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Australia in what Helberg has called a “coalition of capabilities.”
The Gulf states have the money to fund massive projects like Stargate, the $500 billion data center initiative announced by OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle in January last year; and the cheap electricity to run the data centers that train AI models.
“For the UAE and Qatar, this marks a shift from a hydrocarbon-centric security architecture to one focused on silicon statecraft,” Helberg told Reuters in a January 11 interview.
What is Pax Silica?
The 21st century is going to run on compute and minerals.”
The State Department calls Pax Silica its flagship effort on AI and supply chain security. Begun last month, the initiative aims to cut Western reliance on China for critical minerals, chips, and AI infrastructure. The name blends Pax Romana, a roughly 200-year-long period that is identified as the golden age of Roman imperialism, with silica, the compound refined into silicon for computer chips.
“If the 20th century ran on oil and steel, the 21st century is going to run on compute and minerals,” Helberg said in a December briefing.
Why Gulf nations matter
The UAE and Qatar bring three things Washington needs.
First, money. The Qatar Investment Authority manages about $524 billion, while UAE sovereign funds control more than $1 trillion.
QIA recently formed a $20 billion joint venture with real estate giant Brookfield to build AI data centers. The UAE’s MGX — an Abu Dhabi-based technology investment fund started in 2024 by sovereign firm Mubadala, AI development firm G42, and the UAE’s AI council — has backed OpenAI’s Stargate project and committed $100 billion to AI data centers with BlackRock and Microsoft.
Second, power. AI data centers devour electricity, and demand will triple by 2030, according to the nonprofit think tank Middle East Institute. The Gulf nations are among the world’s largest energy producers.
Third, location. The Gulf is located right at the center of the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor, a project to link Indian ports to European markets. Pax Silica talks include upgrading these trade routes with U.S. technology.
The China factor
China controls about 90% of global rare earth processing.
“Our strategy is to create a competitive edge so steep, so insurmountable that no adversary or competitor can scale it,” Helberg said last month.
The Gulf states have long kept ties with both Washington and Beijing. While joining Pax Silica does not mean breaking up with China, U.S. partnerships are known to come with strings. Microsoft’s deal with Abu Dhabi’s G42 required the Emirati firm to divest from Chinese companies.
What Pax Silica’s initiative actually means
The Pax Silica declaration is a statement of shared principles with no enforcement mechanism. Helberg has described it as a set of “first principles” meant to guide future cooperation. The real test will be whether member countries commit capital to joint projects or simply attend summits.
Gulf sovereign funds were already pouring billions into AI infrastructure before Pax Silica was formed, raising the question of what the initiative adds beyond a diplomatic stamp.
Whether the Gulf is genuinely shifting toward the U.S. tech ecosystem or simply hedging between great powers remains to be seen. What is certain is that the AI race now runs through Abu Dhabi and Doha as much as Silicon Valley and Shenzhen.