(Bloomberg) — The head of Saudi Arabia’s new investment fund for semiconductor and artificial intelligence technology said the country would divest from China if the United States asked it to do so.
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“So far, demands have been to keep manufacturing and supply chains completely separate, but if partnerships with China become a problem for the United States, we will disengage,” said Amit Midha, director general of Alat, a backed investment company. by $100 billion in capital from the Public Investment Fund.
U.S. officials have told their Saudi counterparts that they must choose between Chinese and American technology in their aim to develop the Saudi semiconductor industry, Bloomberg reported, as part of ongoing negotiations on a range of issues national security.
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“We are looking for reliable and secure partnerships in the United States,” Midha said in an interview with Bloomberg News on the sidelines of the Milken Institute Global Conference in California. “The United States is our number one partner and the number one market for the AI, chip and semiconductor industry. »
Saudi Arabia is vying for regional leadership in advanced technologies, hoping to create data centers, AI and semiconductor manufacturing companies. His ambitions come as the United States increasingly scrutinizes Middle East ties with China, fearing that countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates could serve as a conduit for Beijing to access technology that Chinese companies cannot buy from the United States.
The United States has already asked Abu Dhabi-based AI company G42 to divest from Chinese technology, in exchange for continued access to American systems that power AI applications. The deal paved the way for a $1.5 billion investment from Microsoft Corp. in G42.
Alat, meanwhile, will announce partnerships with two US technology companies by the end of June and co-invest alongside a US investment firm, Midha said. He declined to say which companies are involved in these negotiations or whether they are focused on AI, chips or a combination of the two.
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