Welcome to the newest edition of ID Tech’s AI update. Here’s the latest big news on the shifting landscape of AI and identity technology:
The US and UAE have agreed to build a 10-square-mile AI campus in Abu Dhabi, powered by five gigawatts of electricity, making it the biggest AI data center outside of America. The deal also involves the UAE’s procurement of up to 500,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips annually, starting this year.
Saudi Arabia also made a deal to buy state-of-the-art AI chips from Nvidia and AMD, with plans to deploy up to 500 megawatts of AMD hardware and a similar amount of Nvidia systems over five years. Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Saudi AI company HUMAIN will invest over $5 billion to build a dedicated “AI Zone”.
Italy made its own deal with the UAE to develop an AI hub in Italy, probably in the southeastern Apulia region. Industry Minister Adolfo Urso said they’re looking to build “the largest AI computing infrastructure in Europe”, including a supercomputer.
The US is warning that using Huawei’s Ascend AI chips “anywhere in the world” violates US sanctions rules. The guidance was released by the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), and has caused uncertainty for global companies that now risk violating US law even if their operations have no direct connection to America.
Meta is delaying the rollout of its “Behemoth” AI model as its researchers struggle to get it smart enough to compete with other flagship models. It was originally supposed to launch in April, and was then pushed back to June. We’re now looking at fall of this year or possibly later.
OpenAI has launched a new coding agent, dubbed “Codex”, not to be confused with the original Codex launched a few years ago and the CODEX CLI tool announced last month. Powered by one of the company’s most sophisticated reasoning models, Codex can perform various tasks asynchronously, reporting back to users when its jobs are done.
A German HVAC company has become the latest acquisition target in the AI boom. Samsung is buying FläktGroup for €1.5 billion as it seeks to respond to the growing need for advanced cooling systems for AI-focused data centers. It’s Samsung’s biggest deal since its acquisition of Harman International Industries in 2017.
The Security Industry Association has named Dan Merkle as the new chair of its Artificial Intelligence Advisory Board. Merkle is the former CEO and current advisor of FaceFirst, a firm specializing in facial recognition security, where he remains an advisor. He also sits on the board of the National Policing Institute. He replaces outgoing chair Bill Bozeman, who was thanked by SIA CEO Don Erickson for “his visionary leadership”.
The chatbot’s take: We asked 4o to look at the bigger geopolitical picture with these Middle East AI deals.
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May 16, 2025 – by Alex Perala
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