【By Guan察者网, Yuan Jiaqi】

On the 16th local time, U.S. media such as the Wall Street Journal cited sources saying that due to baseless concerns about advanced U.S. semiconductors flowing into China, the U.S. government has changed its mind, and is delaying the agreement reached in May by Trump's Middle East trip, blocking the UAE from purchasing NVIDIA artificial intelligence (AI) chips.

The report said that during his visit to the Middle East, Trump had supported this transaction worth billions of dollars involving over a million NVIDIA advanced chips, and both sides hoped to finalize the details soon. NVIDIA was also very optimistic about this sale. However, the U.S. and UAE have not yet reached an agreement on the final terms.

According to insiders, since the agreement was signed in May, U.S. and UAE officials who should have advanced the agreement and refined the details have rarely met. The delay in progress is mainly because some U.S. officials are unnecessarily worried, speculating that China may find ways to obtain the latest cutting-edge chips through UAE entities and personnel involved in the deal.

On May 13th local time, U.S. President Trump visited the old town of Diriyah in the suburbs of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, capital of Saudi Arabia. Visual China

According to the above sources, unless the UAE agrees to modify the terms to address the so-called U.S. national security concerns, the implementation of the agreement may be stalled.

The report mentioned that the U.S. discussed the possibility of revoking G42, the UAE's leading AI company, from directly obtaining the chips. This company was originally entitled to about 20% of semiconductor access rights. The U.S. media noted that G42 had previously caused the U.S. government "unease" due to "cooperating with Chinese companies" and having close relations with China, and had been subjected to strict scrutiny.

However, this change could cause dissatisfaction among the UAE, as Abu Dhabi believes the agreement is crucial for the country to keep up with global AI development, and considers G42's participation as a core part of the agreement framework.

A source informed the U.S. media that the U.S. Department of Commerce currently does not plan to approve the export of chips to G42, but may reconsider in the future.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Commerce stated that Secretary Rutenberg "believes that the specific implementation of this agreement signed by the UAE will proceed on schedule." UAE officials expressed optimism about the negotiations. UAE Ambassador to the U.S. Yusuf al-Otaiba said in a statement that the agreement "will bring great benefits to both countries."

Many people involved in the negotiations expect that the chip deal will eventually be finalized. A source told the U.S. media that on Tuesday this week, at the Pittsburgh Technology and Energy Summit, U.S. officials such as Rutenberg met with UAE representatives to discuss how to advance the agreement.

But the slow progress of this deal has caused frustration among some tech industry executives and government officials who hope to expand U.S. overseas AI businesses.

Some U.S. officials are concerned that Chinese tech companies trying to sell chips in the Middle East might take advantage of this delay, such as David Sacks, the White House's head of AI and cryptocurrency affairs. He is also the main official overseeing the May U.S.-UAE trade negotiations.

At the Pittsburgh summit, Sacks claimed, "If we don't provide this technology, our global competitors will." He also said that concerns about the chips being resold were "greatly exaggerated."

U.S. media video screenshot

On the same day, when interviewed by U.S. media Bloomberg, Sacks responded to criticism of Trump allowing the sale of chips to countries like the UAE, saying, "I don't understand why this has sparked controversy in Washington. Places like the Gulf states either choose American technology or Chinese technology."

"If we don't let these countries purchase American technology, it would push them into China's arms. Many people say 'Chinese technology exports will take years,' but now there are reports showing that Chinese companies are already promoting chips abroad," he added. "Therefore, we cannot tie the hands of American companies."

The Wall Street Journal pointed out that the Trump administration's chip export policy "turned around," including suddenly agreeing to approve NVIDIA's sales of H20 chips to the Chinese market after halting it for three months.

In a Bloomberg program, Sacks defended this move, stating that allowing NVIDIA to restart shipments of H20 chips to China would help the U.S. gain a more favorable position in international competition and curb the expansion of Chinese tech giants' global market share.

"The competitiveness of Chinese companies is rapidly increasing. If we give up the entire Chinese market, it would amount to providing substantial subsidies for their research and development. This would actually force Chinese companies that might have used H20 chips to switch to domestic chips," Sacks claimed. "Therefore, we shouldn't hand over the entire Chinese market to Chinese companies."

At the July 15th regular press conference of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Spokesperson Lin Jian responded to the lifting of the export ban on NVIDIA, saying, "We generally do not make specific comments on the actions of enterprises."

Lin Jian pointed out that China opposes politicizing, instrumentalizing, and weaponizing science and technology and economic and trade issues, and has always maintained a clear and consistent stance against malicious blockades and suppression. Such practices disrupt the stability of the global supply chain and are not in the interest of any party.

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