Qatar joins US 'Pax Silica' as it races to catch up with Gulf neighbours on AI Submitted by Sean Mathews on Tue, 01/13/2026 - 20:10 The Gulf state has been slower to join the AI race than Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but its new tech firm has started splashing on deals US under secretary of state for economic growth Jacob Helberg and Minister of State for Foreign Trade Affairs Ahmad bin Mohammed al-Sayed sign the Pax Silica Declaration, on 12 January 2026 (US embassy Qatar/screen grab) Off Qatar joined a US programme to secure AI and chip supply chains on Monday, as it races to catch up with its Gulf neighbours on investments in the tech sector. “The [US] and Qatar affirm a new geopolitical consensus that economic security is national security, and national security is economic security,” the US State Department said in a statement released after the signing. The statement said Qatar was committed to “investing in secure energy, advanced technology, and critical minerals supply chains”, which makes it an “indispensable partner” for the US. Qatar is the first Gulf state to join "Pax Silica", which the Trump administration refers to as “an economic security coalition”. The other signatories are close US allies: Australia, Israel, Japan, Korea, and the United Kingdom. Singapore, a wealthy city-state and financial hub, has also signed on. The State Department said Qatar’s entry into the coalition will allow it to partner on projects including digital infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, logistics, mineral refining and processing, and energy. The agreement underscores how the US is leaning further on its oil-rich Gulf partners to support its bid to dominate the AI industry, at a time when many western countries are cash-strapped. Together, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have trillions of dollars in sovereign wealth to deploy. Qatar, a gas-rich Gulf state home to barely three million people, has been slower to jump on the AI bandwagon than its neighbours. Saudi Arabia and the UAE lobbied the Trump administration to sell them advanced AI chips. Saudi Arabia's unbeatable AI pitch? Having oil and gas to burn Read More » Late last year, the UAE’s state-owned AI tech titan, G42, and its state-owned Saudi rival, Humain, were given the go-ahead in Washington to purchase tens of thousands of Nvidia’s advanced chips. At a time when US consumers are frustrated with high energy bills, in part due to data centres, Gulf states like Saudi Arabia are betting they can attract AI companies with ultracheap energy. For example, commercial electricity prices in Saudi Arabia are anywhere from 30 to 50 percent cheaper than the global average. In December, Qatar set up a new company to develop and invest in AI. Qai is a subsidiary of the nation’s $524bn sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. In September, Qatar’s Investment Authority invested in AI company Anthropic. Qai and US asset manager Brookfield also agreed in December to jointly invest $20bn in AI infrastructure in Qatar and globally. Inside Qatar News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0