President Trump's chip diplomacy aims to open more doors for U.S. tech, but could turning the Gulf into an AI hub also end up opening a backdoor for China.

Dear Jabosa has more in today's tech check. Dear Joe.

So, Kelly, chip deals, yes. They could open the door to a new wave of AI demand. That's bullish for the AI trade.

But they could also power Gulf data centers,

many of which already have ties to Chinese cloud giants like Huawei and Alibaba. Raising a critical

question for investors and policymakers, is the U.S. expanding its AI footprint? Or is this just

creating a new access point for Beijing? Or as Kelly called it, a backdoor.

Now, some officials are pushing for U.S. guardrails like U.S. controlled access to data centers,

but the China Gulf tech ties, they run deep.

Huawei has built out much of Saudi Arabia's 5G infrastructure.

Alibaba has a joint venture with Saudi telecom, and then there's Neum, the half a trillion

dollar Saudi megacity project where Chinese companies have already secured AI and autonomous

roles in its development.

Just this morning, the Alibaba owned South China Morning Post reports that Chinese companies

are quietly cutting their own deals in the region this week as a hedge against worsening U.S. China trade ties.

This is a risk that the Biden administration recognized and tried to mitigate with the AI diffusion rule,

but that the Trump administration has now thrown off.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp, he spoke to the stakes in Riyadh today.

He called AI a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands.

And really so much of policy over the last few years has focused on containing our technology

from China. The administration, it's now embracing this policy of diffusion. It's the idea

that's spreading U.S. AI technology widely. That can extend American influence and maintain our

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