The strategic artificial intelligence cooperation agreement between South Korea and the United Arab Emirates is elevating bilateral relations to a new dimension. This partnership goes beyond a simple memorandum of understanding, presenting a strategic blueprint that includes concrete implementation directions and the role both nations will play in the global AI governance framework.
The "Strategic AI Cooperation Framework" was signed between Korea's AI Strategy Committee and the UAE's AI and Advanced Technology Council (AIATC). Through this agreement, both countries will pursue cooperation across all areas related to AI, including investment, infrastructure development, supply chain expansion, accelerated adoption of advanced technologies, and research and development. Working groups will naturally be established as part of this effort. The framework also specifies that Korea will become an AI technology cooperation partner in the Stargate UAE project. This creates participation opportunities for Korean companies in memory supply, nuclear power plants, transmission and distribution systems, energy storage systems (ESS), cooling, power equipment, construction, and AI solutions.
In the physical AI sector, the plan to jointly develop AI port solutions using Korea's Busan Port and UAE's Khalifa Port as pilot projects is particularly noteworthy. Korean companies specializing in Internet of Things (IoT), AI solutions, agents, and robotics hardware and software will participate in this project. The goal is to export these solutions to third countries such as those in Africa through joint venture investments. This business objective aims not merely for bilateral cooperation but for joint entry into global markets.
In the semiconductor sector, the UAE aims to reduce its dependency on Nvidia, which opens opportunities for Korean semiconductor companies to explore market entry for their neural processing units (NPUs) through demonstration projects. This will provide significant momentum for domestic AI semiconductor companies that have been seeking to develop the Middle Eastern market.
A notable aspect of this visit is that the Korean special envoy directly met with the CEO of G42, the UAE's AI company, elevating the level of cooperation. G42 is a company whose major shareholder is Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a key member of the Abu Dhabi royal family and the UAE's national security advisor. Sheikh Tahnoun, brother of UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is one of the most influential figures in Abu Dhabi.
G42 is effectively a state-owned AI company under the strong support and control of the UAE royal family, serving as the core entity implementing the UAE's national AI strategy. Therefore, strategic cooperation with G42 should be evaluated as a nation-to-nation framework agreement. The UAE, which is fostering AI as a future growth engine at the national level, aims to become a global AI leader by 2031 and seeks to establish itself as an infrastructure powerhouse based on AI data centers with capacity of up to 5 gigawatts.
This cooperation framework is expected to secure a foothold for Korea's entry into Middle Eastern and global markets, creating opportunities for Korean AI companies and technologies to expand into the Middle East and surrounding regions. It will also provide demonstration opportunities across various application areas to strengthen AI industry competitiveness, contributing to technology commercialization and enhanced global competitiveness. In particular, based on the UAE's investment capacity and regional leadership, Korea is expected to strengthen its international standing in global AI governance discussions while achieving various policy collaborations.
