Huda Thomas@huda.thomas

关注

Trump and Sheikh Tahnoon AI chip deal

So let's talk about the UAE chip deal and the money trail around it, because the timeline is something else. A foreign intelligence chief ends up with America's most advanced AI chips after his investment vehicle pays the president's family hundreds of millions. That's the setup. Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan isn't just any official, he's the UAE's national security adviser, the president's brother, runs the biggest wealth fund, and chairs G42, the Emirati AI company. The press calls him the Spy Sheikh. For years, Washington blocked these chips, but the restriction came off right after the funds landed. In January 2025, four days before the inauguration, a Tahnoon-backed vehicle put $500 million into World Liberty Financial for a 49% stake. Trump's own financial disclosure shows $263 million of that went to Trump family entities. Four months later, Trump toured the Gulf, and the US signed a preliminary agreement letting the UAE import 500,000 Nvidia chips annually. Before that trip, the proposed limit for the whole country was 100,000. Under the new deal, G42 alone got 100,000 per year, Tahnoon's own company got what the entire country had been offered. To picture what that buys: G42 is building a five gigawatt AI campus in Abu Dhabi that could hold up to 2.5 million of Nvidia's top chips. That's larger than any AI site announced anywhere, including Stargate. And those chips were restricted for one documented reason: US intelligence believed they could reach China and strengthen its military. The UAE landed in a restricted tier partly because of G42. In 2022, US intelligence alleged G42 passed flight software technology to Huawei, which allegedly appeared in Chinese air-to-air missiles. That's the company getting the chips. The relationship kept going. MGX, another firm Tahnoon chairs, settled a $2 billion investment into Binance using World Liberty's stablecoin, handing the Trump-linked token its first real use. Binance had paid $4.3 billion to settle American money laundering charges, its founder pleaded guilty and served prison time, and Trump later pardoned him. In November 2025, Commerce issued a license clearing G42 to buy the equivalent of 35,000 Blackwell chips. Then on August 14, the Comptroller of the Currency gave World Liberty preliminary approval to operate a federally chartered national bank. And the Wall Street Journal reported who actually owns it: Tahnoon's vehicle holds 49%, the Trump family entity holds 38%. None of that proves a trade, and the honest version has to say so. There's no evidence the money moved the chip decision, and a person close to the investment told the Journal it was never discussed with Trump. The White House denies any conflict. G42's imports carry security requirements built with the Commerce Department, for every data centre G42 builds in the UAE, it has to build one in America. The administration's AI czar David Sacks says the old controls were 'never intended to capture friends, allies, strategic partners.' And there's a real case that if America won't sell, Huawei will. But strip the politics out and one fact remains: the most strategically valuable product this country makes is being allocated to a foreign intelligence chief who has paid the president's family hundreds of millions. That's not a left or right problem. A national security restriction came off, and the payment that preceded it sits in the president's own disclosure. What do you think?

3w

Huda Thomas@huda.thomas

关注

Trump and Sheikh Tahnoon AI chip deal

So let's talk about the UAE chip deal and the money trail around it, because the timeline is something else. A foreign intelligence chief ends up with America's most advanced AI chips after his investment vehicle pays the president's family hundreds of millions. That's the setup. Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan isn't just any official, he's the UAE's national security adviser, the president's brother, runs the biggest wealth fund, and chairs G42, the Emirati AI company. The press calls him the Spy Sheikh. For years, Washington blocked these chips, but the restriction came off right after the funds landed. In January 2025, four days before the inauguration, a Tahnoon-backed vehicle put $500 million into World Liberty Financial for a 49% stake. Trump's own financial disclosure shows $263 million of that went to Trump family entities. Four months later, Trump toured the Gulf, and the US signed a preliminary agreement letting the UAE import 500,000 Nvidia chips annually. Before that trip, the proposed limit for the whole country was 100,000. Under the new deal, G42 alone got 100,000 per year, Tahnoon's own company got what the entire country had been offered. To picture what that buys: G42 is building a five gigawatt AI campus in Abu Dhabi that could hold up to 2.5 million of Nvidia's top chips. That's larger than any AI site announced anywhere, including Stargate. And those chips were restricted for one documented reason: US intelligence believed they could reach China and strengthen its military. The UAE landed in a restricted tier partly because of G42. In 2022, US intelligence alleged G42 passed flight software technology to Huawei, which allegedly appeared in Chinese air-to-air missiles. That's the company getting the chips. The relationship kept going. MGX, another firm Tahnoon chairs, settled a $2 billion investment into Binance using World Liberty's stablecoin, handing the Trump-linked token its first real use. Binance had paid $4.3 billion to settle American money laundering charges, its founder pleaded guilty and served prison time, and Trump later pardoned him. In November 2025, Commerce issued a license clearing G42 to buy the equivalent of 35,000 Blackwell chips. Then on August 14, the Comptroller of the Currency gave World Liberty preliminary approval to operate a federally chartered national bank. And the Wall Street Journal reported who actually owns it: Tahnoon's vehicle holds 49%, the Trump family entity holds 38%. None of that proves a trade, and the honest version has to say so. There's no evidence the money moved the chip decision, and a person close to the investment told the Journal it was never discussed with Trump. The White House denies any conflict. G42's imports carry security requirements built with the Commerce Department, for every data centre G42 builds in the UAE, it has to build one in America. The administration's AI czar David Sacks says the old controls were 'never intended to capture friends, allies, strategic partners.' And there's a real case that if America won't sell, Huawei will. But strip the politics out and one fact remains: the most strategically valuable product this country makes is being allocated to a foreign intelligence chief who has paid the president's family hundreds of millions. That's not a left or right problem. A national security restriction came off, and the payment that preceded it sits in the president's own disclosure. What do you think?

3w