PRESIDENT TRUMP’S A.I. MASTERSTROKE IN THE MIDDLE EAST On top of being a historic diplomatic and economic success, President Trump’s trip to the Middle East was also a game-changer in the global AI race. With the administration’s signing of the first “AI Acceleration Partnership” in Abu Dhabi, President Trump signaled a new willingness to work with our Gulf State partners on AI. This approach was sorely needed to mend fences in the region after years of hostility from the Biden administration. The AI Acceleration Partnership is not just a single deal, it’s a new framework for advancing American AI both at home and abroad, positioning our tech stack as the ecosystem of choice across the region for decades to come. Under this new framework: — America’s global partners will invest in the build-out of data centers in the U.S. at least as large and powerful as those in their own home countries. This means billions of dollars of investment flowing into the U.S. and billions more in revenue from American technology exports. — The vast majority of advanced semiconductors available in partner countries will be owned & operated by American hyperscalers and cloud service providers. This ensures that these new AI compute clusters remain part of the larger American technology ecosystem, aligned with U.S. interests. — All advanced semiconductors will remain under robust and comprehensive U.S. security controls, protecting American technology from any illegal diversion or illegal access. This is a win-win deal for the U.S. and our global partners. The U.S. accelerates the build-out of its AI compute infrastructure, and our partners get to participate in the bounties of AI by building on the leading AI tech stack. By creating the largest ecosystem, we also help to cement American technology as the global standard — before our competitors can catch up. The alternative to this framework was to exclude critical geo-strategic, resource-rich friends and allies from our AI ecosystem. This was the Biden policy, and it was foolish in the extreme. Every country will want to participate in the AI revolution. If we align with them, we will pull them into our orbit. If we reject them, we will drive them into China’s arms. To quote the immortal words of Don Barzini, “A refusal is not the act of a friend.” In fact, it will backfire by creating a Huawei Belt & Road. Thank you to President Trump for his leadership on AI. He made it a priority for the U.S. to win the AI race, and his historic diplomacy in the Gulf region has already enabled the first AI Acceleration Partnership, with more to come. Kudos also to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for negotiating these America First deals and driving the best bargain for the U.S.