The Trump administration is clearing a path for two key Persian Gulf allies to pursue their artificial intelligence ambitions — and some of the biggest U.S. tech companies are seizing on that opening with plans to spend billions of dollars in the region.

Under agreements with the U.S. expected to be unveiled in coming days, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are poised to win wider access to advanced AI chips from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices that are considered the gold standard for running AI models.

Technology shares rose broadly in anticipation of eased restrictions on exports of advanced AI chips. Nvidia climbed 5.6% while AMD surged 4% on Tuesday, and both companies extended those gains in Wednesday trading. Shares of Super Micro Computer Inc. jumped nearly 20% after markets opened in New York on Wednesday before paring some gains.

The deals are taking shape while President Donald Trump visits the Middle East seeking to forge deeper business ties that put U.S. technology initiatives at center stage. Even before any formal announcement of accords between the U.S. and its partners, news began to emerge of American companies readying expanded projects in the region:

Those AI initiatives stood out in a flurry of investments unveiled on the first full day of Trump’s visit to the region. In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, Trump was joined by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in hailing closer commercial relations. The deals also have included expanded purchases of Boeing Co. passenger jets and a promise by the kingdom to allow Elon Musk’s Starlink service to be used in aviation and maritime shipping.

To pave the way on artificial intelligence, the U.S. moved formally Tuesday to rescind the so-called AI diffusion rule launched under President Joe Biden. The measure, which created three broad tiers of access for countries seeking AI chips, had faced intense opposition from companies like Nvidia and American allies over the constraints it placed on countries’ chip purchases. Trump administration officials are now drafting their own approach that is expected to shift toward negotiating individual deals with countries.

“The country that builds its partner ecosystem the fastest is the one that will win this high-stakes competition,” White House AI adviser David Sacks wrote on X following his meeting with Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan — the UAE’s national security adviser and brother of the country’s president. “Effective AI diplomacy is vital now more than ever.”

Even so, the Trump administration’s eagerness to lower barriers for allies like the UAE drew some objections from China hawks in Washington, who see a risk that Beijing could either acquire physical chips from the UAE or tap the capabilities of those semiconductors via the cloud.

Prospects of a UAE accord stirred warnings from a key lawmaker on the House Select Committee on China, which has long sounded the alarm about G42’s ties to Huawei Technologies Co. and other companies in China. “We raised concerns about G42 last year for this very reason — and we need safeguards in place before more agreements move forward,” Representative John Moolenaar, the top Republican on the panel, said in a post on X.

In a nod to those concerns over Huawei, the Commerce Department said as it revoked the AI diffusion rule that the U.S. would consider use of the Chinese telecom equipment maker’s new Ascend chip a violation of American export controls.