A Bank of America report has confirmed that the United Arab Emirates has become one of the most prominent competitors in the field of artificial intelligence, highlighting the extent of progress the UAE has made in competing globally in the development and adoption of AI technologies.
The report stated that while the United States and China remain far ahead in the global AI race, a small number of countries are emerging as leaders in the field. Among nations outside the United States and China, Bank of America awarded the UAE an advanced standing, backed by massive government investments, abundant energy resources, and one of the highest AI adoption rates in the world, although geopolitical risks continue to represent a significant factor of uncertainty.
The report noted that the AI landscape is becoming increasingly concentrated around the United States and China, with Washington maintaining its lead in private investment, advanced chips, and computing infrastructure, while Beijing benefits from its manufacturing scale, lower energy costs, and dominance over processed critical minerals.
Rather than attempting to compete directly with these two leaders, other economies are positioning themselves to capitalise on AI-driven growth through semiconductor supply chains, data centre investment, and the broader adoption of AI across various sectors of their economies.
The report explained that South Korea stands out as the strongest all-round AI competitor over both the near and long term, combining exposure to semiconductor manufacturing, rapid AI adoption, supportive government policies, and the capacity to translate AI deployment into long-term productivity gains. Canada, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom formed a strong second tier of AI leaders.
The report spotlighted India as the most prominent long-term AI competitor among emerging markets, while identifying Taiwan, Australia, and Japan as near-term beneficiaries of global AI infrastructure development. Abundant and reliable energy has become an increasingly important competitive advantage in AI, giving countries such as Canada, France, and the UAE a notable edge as computing workloads and data centre capacities continue to expand.