The global artificial intelligence (AI) market is expected to grow from $103bn in 2023 to $1.03tn by 2030, according to the latest executive briefing from global information services firm GlobalData.

This represents a 39% compound annual growth rate over the forecast period.

According to the report, the AI competitive landscape is evolving rapidly, with new products or enabling technologies such as OpenAI's Sora and Nvidia's Blackwell graphics processing units (GPUs) being launched; new entrants such as xAI emerging; and partnerships such as the one between Microsoft and Mistral being established.

"With demand for AI chips rising simultaneously from a multitude of industries, the AI chips market alone will be worth £116bn ($145bn) by 2030," GlobalData notes.

The report adds that AI is fueling geopolitical tensions and disrupting supply chains, especially with respect to semiconductors and critical minerals, due to its importance for future industrial competitiveness.

The report also confirms that AI is becoming a sustainability conundrum. It helps achieve sustainable goals but consumes a lot of energy and natural resources such as water.

Related read: AI is climate solution and problem

Large language model (LLM) training by companies to implement real life use cases is gaining focus due to its
technical complexity and financial costs, with the retrieval augmented generation technique emerging as a popular choice, according to GlobalData.

AI race

In the GCC region, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have plans to capture a global share of the nascent AI sector. In October last year, the Abu Dhabi-based technology holding group G42 and ChatGPT creator OpenAI partnered to develop sector-focused generative AI models in the UAE and across the Middle East region.

The partnership will focus on using OpenAI's generative AI models in financial services, energy, healthcare and public services.

The partnership between G42 and OpenAI is not an isolated initiative. Several generative AI platforms, including the Arabic LLM Jais, are under way. Jais was trained on Condor Galaxy, a network of nine interconnected supercomputers built by G42 and California's Cerebras.

In August 2023, it was also reported that Saudi Arabia and the UAE have booked separate orders for thousands of H100 processors from US technology firm Nvidia. The kingdom is acquiring 3,000 units of the H100 chips, which Nvidia describes as the world's first computer chips designed for generative AI.

The UAE's access to these chips supports its open-source LLM, Falcon 40B, which is being developed by the state-owned Technology Innovation Institute.

On 16 April, G42 and US-based Microsoft announced a $1.5bn investment by Microsoft in G42.

The companies said in a joint statement that the investment will bring the latest Microsoft AI technologies and skilling initiatives to the UAE and other countries. Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, will join the G42 board of directors.

G42 will run its AI applications and services on Microsoft Azure and partner with it to deliver advanced AI solutions to global public-sector clients and large enterprises.

G42 and Microsoft will also work together to bring advanced AI and digital infrastructure to countries in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa.