Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE’s Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and its top oil executive told a Washington audience that the country is moving to a new stage of artificial intelligence, using the technology to run business operations and develop its infrastructure.

“In the first phase AI helped generate content. It helped analyze information and automate workflows,” Dr. Al Jaber said Wednesday in a webcast interview with the Atlantic Council. “In the next phase, AI is helping us operate physical systems through robotics, autonomous inspections, intelligent infrastructure, and real-time operational optimization,” he said.

Dr. Al Jaber, who is Group CEO of the UAE’s ADNOC national oil company, linked AI directly to energy production and said the firm is deploying thousands of agentic AI and robotic applications. “The AI race is an electron race, and countries that can provide reliable, scalable, and affordable power will have a major competitive edge and a major strategic advantage,” he said, speaking from his office in Abu Dhabi.

The UAE has emerged as one of the world’s most aggressive state-backed AI investors through firms such as G42 and MGX. UAE funds have invested in OpenAI, xAI and Anthropic, while G42 teamed up with Nvidia on the massive Stargate data center project in Abu Dhabi.

The Emirati cabinet minister said government funds will continue to put money into U.S. companies despite disruptions from the Iran war and volatility in global oil markets.

“We invest in America because we believe in America,” Dr. Al Jaber said. “We believe in its energy resources, its capital markets, its innovation ecosystem, and its people and the quality of the ecosystem that has been created that helps attract investments.”

The minister’s remarks at the Atlantic Council event come as the UAE tries to protect its oil exports from disruptions tied to the Iran war after shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was severely affected and facilities linked to ADNOC were targeted during the conflict.

The UAE, one of the world’s largest oil exporters, formally announced on April 28 that it would withdraw from OPEC, with the decision taking effect on May 1. Officials argued that OPEC production quotas were limiting Abu Dhabi’s ability to expand output despite billions of dollars in investment in new oil capacity.

Saudi Arabia is accelerating efforts to reroute Gulf trade around Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, launching a new Red Sea Express shipping service that connects its western port of Yanbu with Egypt and Jordan.

The alternative cargo corridor developed by Mawani, the Saudi Ports Authority, is designed to move containers to international ports more quickly, using large ships to improve efficiency and reduce waiting times, Arab News reports.

The service, which links Yanbu’s King Fahd Industrial Port with the Ain Sokhna Port in Egypt and the Aqaba port in Jordan will be operated with Riyadh-based Folk Maritime and SABIC, the petrochemical unit of Aramco. 

In the UAE, AD Ports Group and Borouge said they are developing an export hub in its eastern Fujairah port, which is located outside the Hormuz chokepoint, while DP World is marketing war-risk insurance to keep cargo flowing through conflict zones.

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi Ship Building, part of EDGE Group, signed a $370 million deal with Italy’s Leonardo to equip Kuwait’s new Falaj 3 missile boats with advanced naval combat systems.

Riyadh Air’s first commercial flight will finally take off on July 1, after delays in Boeing aircraft deliveries repeatedly pushed off its debut.

The Saudi flag carrier has started selling tickets for its daily Riyadh-London service, which will be operated using its new Boeing 787-9 fleet.

Backed by billions of dollars from the Public Investment Fund, Riyadh Air is aimed at business and luxury travelers, competing directly with Gulf rivals Emirates and Qatar Airways.

British Airways, meanwhile, has postponed the restart of flights to Dubai, Doha and Tel Aviv until Aug. 1 because of the Iran war, while also cutting planned service levels and permanently dropping Jeddah from its route network.

Vista Equity Partners, the $110 billion Texas firm founded by tech investor Robert F. Smith, is settling in at its new office in the heart of Abu Dhabi’s financial district.

Establishing a base in the UAE capital’s Abu Dhabi Global Market, Smith said in a LinkedIn post on Monday, reflects Vista’s desire to participate in the rapid growth of AI infrastructure in the Middle East.

“We look forward to engaging with Abu Dhabi’s broader innovation landscape, connecting our portfolio companies with the market, ecosystem partners and growth opportunities emerging across the region,” said Smith, who is the firm’s Chairman and CEO.

Smith said he met ADGM Chairman Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi while attending the Milken Institute Global Summit in Los Angeles earlier this month. He included a photo of himself and Al Zaabi together in the LinkedIn post.

Saudi Arabia’s ultra-luxurious Dream of the Desert unveiled its Riyadh headquarters and announced the appointment of Raffaele Breschi as General Manager and CEO of Arsenale International, overseeing the project.

The train was conceived as the kingdom’s answer to the Orient Express and built by Italy’s Arsenale Group.

Passengers will pay between $4,000 and $28,000 for the 1,300-kilometer (810-mile) trip through the Saudi desert.

The train evokes a gilded vision of Arabian travel, with interiors conceived by architect and interior designer Aline Asmar d’Amman.

Each coach features plush sleeper cabins with private bathrooms, marble-accented dining cars serving regional cuisine, and lounges adorned with brass, walnut, and desert-hued fabrics.

It’s showtime this week for Shura Island, the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s $690 million luxury resort project whose opening has been postponed since early last year.

Managed by Four Seasons, the island’s development is backed by the PIF’s Red Sea Global and Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding as a part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s effort to turn the kingdom into a luxury tourism magnet.

But in the shadow of the launch parties and coral reef marketing campaigns, consultants are being hired to tell ministries and developers that some of Saudi Arabia’s multibillion-dollar projects are too expensive to build, as the kingdom struggles with budget deficits, Intelligence Online reports.

The government’s budget troubles have forced officials to slow, shrink or shut down projects ranging from parts of NEOM’s The Line and the Trojena ski resort to Riyadh’s cube-shaped Mukaab.

A centerpiece of the Red Sea gigaproject, the Shura Island resort includes 149 rooms and suites, 31 residences and six restaurants, with 11 hotels already operating along the Red Sea beach area and six more opening soon on Shura Island itself, Arabian Gulf Business Insight reports. Bookings open from May 20.

The UAE is investigating a weekend drone attack on its $28 billion Barakah nuclear power plant that could escalate its three-month old conflict with Iran.

Though air defense systems shot down two of the three drones, the third one hit an electrical generator within the massive compound, which is operated by state-owned Emirates Nuclear Energy Co. and was built with the Korea Electric Power Corp.

Barakah, the Gulf’s first commercial nuclear power installation, is a central part of the UAE’s strategy to shift away from fossil fuels and move toward net zero emission energy sources. It currently supplies 25% of the country’s power.

No radiation was released in the attack, though one of Barakah’s four reactors was switched to emergency diesel power, The National reports.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed condemned what he described as a “treacherous terrorist attack,” while Presidential Advisor Anwar Gargash indicated that Iran was the prime suspect. The assault on Barakah, “whether carried out by the principal perpetrator or through one of its agents, represents a dangerous escalation,” Gargash wrote on X.

Since the end of February, Iran-linked attacks have hit or damaged Gulf-linked assets, including ADNOC tankers and gas facilities in Abu Dhabi, KEZAD industrial sites and the Emirates Global Aluminium complex

UBS has lost several senior wealth management bankers in the Middle East, less than two years after hiring them.

Among those departing the Swiss bank are Rana Al Emam and Ali Khunji, who joined UBS from HSBC Holdings in 2024 to expand the bank’s wealth business in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.

Al Emam moved to Banco Santander, while Khunji joined J. Safra Sarasin earlier this year, Bloomberg reports.

The moves are a visible indicator of the intense competition for talent in regional wealth management, though some firms have been recently scaling back since the war with Iran started.