Cisco Systems and G42 (AI) Expand US-UAE Partnership to Build Secure AI Infrastructure

DUBAI / U.S. — Networking giant Cisco Systems and UAE-based AI firm G42 today announced they are deepening their partnership to build secure, high-performance, end-to-end AI infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates.
The collaboration is part of the broader US-UAE Technology Prosperity deal, and signals a major investment into AI data centres, GPU frameworks, security architecture and sovereign digital infrastructure. Chuck Robbins (Chair & CEO, Cisco) described it as “building the foundation for the AI era.”
The deal also underscores how countries beyond the US and China are seeking to position themselves as regional AI hubs, leveraging partnerships and infrastructure to gain competitive advantage.
Why it matters:

Investments in AI infrastructure are essential for countries to compete in advanced tech and innovation ecosystems.

The project highlights the growing importance of partnerships between tech firms and national-level strategic digital agendas.

African countries may observe lessons on how to build infrastructure, governance and partnerships to participate in global AI value chains.
What’s next:

Monitoring infrastructure build-out and how quickly services go live.

Watching where this technology leads: edge AI, data sovereignty, export of services.

Assessing how regional hubs (e.g., UAE) impact innovation flows and global competition.