UAE business AI adoption jumps to 72% amid investment

Key Points

1. Business AI adoption rose 19 percentage points from 53% in one year, marking 36% year-on-year growth.
2. Cloud infrastructure and sovereign computing investments are supporting wider deployment across companies and government customers.
3. Deeper integration will determine whether rapid adoption translates into measurable productivity and economic gains.

The latest

Artificial intelligence adoption among UAE businesses has climbed to 72% from 53% a year earlier, a 19-percentage-point rise amounting to 36% annual growth in the adoption rate. The “Unlocking the UAE’s AI Potential 2026” study, produced by Strand Partners with the UAE Artificial Intelligence Office and Amazon Web Services, found that 85% of AI-using companies said the technology had accelerated their digital transformation.

Details

• Adoption shift: The increase places the UAE among the region’s fastest-moving markets for corporate AI deployment. Dr. Abdelrahman Al Mahmoud, director of the UAE Artificial Intelligence Office, said the country had progressed from establishing a national AI vision to implementing it at scale.
• Cloud foundations: Cloud services provide computing power, data infrastructure and AI tools without requiring companies to build every underlying system. Property Finder, Virgin Mobile UAE, The ENTERTAINER and Careem are using AWS cloud infrastructure and generative AI technologies.
• Investment scale: AWS plans to invest up to AED 20.1 billion ($5.47 billion) in its AWS Middle East UAE region through 2037. The company expects the investment to contribute approximately AED 41 billion ($11.16 billion) to the country’s GDP.
• Sovereign infrastructure: AWS and e& enterprise launched the AWS UAE Sovereign Launchpad, approved by the UAE Cybersecurity Council, to give government and enterprise customers greater control over data, security and regulatory compliance. AWS is also supporting a $1 billion investment with e& in sovereign cloud and AI capabilities.
• Skills pipeline: Through its AI Nation – Afaaq programme, AWS aims to provide free training to 30,000 people across the UAE. It is also working with Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence and supporting Qudwatech, a mentoring initiative for Emirati women in technology.
• Execution priorities: The study identifies skills, responsible AI deployment, secure and scalable cloud infrastructure, innovation-supporting regulation, and better financing access for AI startups and small and medium-sized businesses as areas requiring sustained attention.
• Deployment focus: Chris Erasmus, AWS general manager for Growth Markets in the UAE and MENA, said companies had shifted from asking whether they could use AI to deciding how to deploy it responsibly at scale. That transition is central to the UAE’s ambitions for regional and global AI leadership.

Background

The wider national strategy treats AI as a pillar of economic growth and government modernisation. Investment spans commercial cloud capacity, sovereign computing, workforce development and AI companies, placing the technology within the UAE’s broader economic infrastructure rather than treating it solely as an emerging tool.

What’s next

By 2037, a key indicator will be delivery of AWS’s planned AED 20.1 billion investment and its projected AED 41 billion GDP contribution. Business progress will also be measured by whether deployments move beyond incremental uses, become embedded in operations and produce measurable productivity gains.