Strategic Position
Technology and artificial intelligence have moved from the periphery to the centre of the UAE’s national strategy. The federation has declared its intention to become a global leader in AI and digital economy development, backing this ambition with institutional investments, regulatory frameworks, and infrastructure buildouts that distinguish the UAE from most emerging markets and position it alongside more established technology economies. The National AI Strategy 2031, announced in 2017 and subsequently updated, established the UAE as the first country to appoint a Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence and to adopt a comprehensive national AI framework.
The strategic rationale is straightforward. As hydrocarbon revenues face long-term structural pressure from energy transition, the UAE requires new sources of high-value economic output. Technology — encompassing AI, cloud computing, data analytics, cybersecurity, fintech, and digital government services — offers the highest potential for productivity gains, talent attraction, and economic complexity. The target of growing the digital economy to 20 percent of GDP by 2031 reflects the scale of ambition.
National AI Strategy and Institutional Architecture
The UAE National AI Strategy 2031 identifies nine sectors for AI transformation: transport, health, space, renewable energy, water, technology, education, environment, and traffic. The strategy aims to deploy AI across government services, enhance private sector productivity, and position the UAE as a global testbed for AI applications in urban management, healthcare, logistics, and energy.
The institutional architecture supporting this strategy is unusually well-developed. The Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), established in Abu Dhabi in 2019, is the world’s first graduate-level university dedicated entirely to AI research and education. MBZUAI attracts faculty and students from leading global research institutions and operates across machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing.
The UAE AI Office, operating under the Prime Minister’s Office, coordinates national AI adoption across federal entities and sets standards for AI governance, ethics, and deployment. The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) oversees the broader digital infrastructure and regulatory environment.
G42: The National AI Champion
G42, the Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence and cloud computing group, has emerged as the UAE’s most significant technology company and a key player in the global AI landscape. The company operates across AI infrastructure, enterprise AI solutions, healthcare AI, and cloud services, with a data centre footprint and compute capacity that supports large-scale model training and inference.
G42’s strategic partnerships — including a significant investment from Microsoft and collaborations with major global technology firms — have elevated the company’s profile and provided access to advanced chip architectures, cloud platforms, and enterprise distribution channels. The company’s subsidiary Core42 operates the UAE’s sovereign cloud and AI compute infrastructure, positioning it as the backbone of national digital transformation efforts.
G42’s healthcare subsidiary, M42, operates across genomics, precision medicine, and clinical AI, building on the UAE’s investment in population health data and genomic sequencing programmes. The company represents the UAE’s model for technology development: sovereign ownership, global partnerships, and vertically integrated operations across infrastructure, platform, and application layers.
Telecommunications Infrastructure
The UAE’s telecommunications infrastructure is among the most advanced in the world, operated primarily by two national carriers: e& (formerly Etisalat) and du (operated by Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, EITC). Both operators have completed nationwide 5G network deployments, placing the UAE among the first countries globally to achieve comprehensive 5G coverage.
e& has transformed from a domestic telecoms operator into a diversified technology group with operations across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, covering markets with a combined population exceeding 800 million. The company’s enterprise division provides cloud, cybersecurity, and managed services to government and corporate clients.
Fibre-to-the-home penetration exceeds 95 percent in urban areas, and mobile broadband speeds consistently rank among the highest globally. This infrastructure provides the connectivity foundation for smart city applications, IoT deployments, and cloud-based digital services.
Smart Government
The UAE has been a pioneer in digital government services. The UAE PASS digital identity platform provides citizens and residents with unified access to federal and local government services. The Smart Dubai initiative has deployed blockchain, AI, and data analytics across municipal services including transport, utilities, healthcare, and licensing.
Abu Dhabi’s TAMM platform integrates government services across multiple departments into a single digital interface. The federal government’s aspiration is to deliver 100 percent of applicable government services through digital channels, reducing bureaucratic friction and establishing the UAE as a benchmark for government digitisation globally.
Cybersecurity
As digital adoption has accelerated, cybersecurity has become a national priority. The UAE Cybersecurity Council, established at the federal level, coordinates national cyber defence strategy, threat intelligence, and incident response. The council works with critical infrastructure operators, financial institutions, and government entities to implement cybersecurity standards and resilience frameworks.
The UAE has also invested in cybersecurity talent development and hosted international cybersecurity conferences and exercises, positioning Abu Dhabi and Dubai as regional centres for cybersecurity expertise and services.
Data Centres and Cloud Computing
The UAE is the Middle East’s largest data centre market, with significant facilities operated by global hyperscalers (Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Oracle) and regional operators. Abu Dhabi’s Khazna Data Centres and Dubai’s Moro Hub (a subsidiary of DEWA) operate large-scale facilities that serve government, financial services, and enterprise customers.
The establishment of sovereign data residency requirements and cloud frameworks by ADGM, DIFC, and the TDRA has created a regulated environment for cloud computing that balances data protection with commercial flexibility. The UAE’s data centre capacity is expanding rapidly to meet demand from AI workloads, enterprise cloud migration, and digital services growth.
Outlook Under We the UAE 2031
Technology and AI represent the most transformative element of the We the UAE 2031 vision. The convergence of sovereign AI investment (through G42 and MBZUAI), world-class telecommunications infrastructure, digital government platforms, and a regulatory environment that encourages innovation positions the UAE to capture a disproportionate share of the digital economy opportunity in the Middle East and beyond. The sector’s trajectory will be determined by the federation’s ability to develop and retain technical talent, commercialise research, and scale AI applications across the economy.