Technology - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

technology

Technology

The headquarters of SpaceX in Hawthorne, California, with a Falcon 9 booster in March 2024.

Explainer

Saudi investors could emerge as key winners from SpaceX’s historic IPO

A new disclosure from Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding ahead of SpaceX’s Nasdaq debut shows just how valuable Elon Musk's relationship with Gulf investors has become.

Latest News

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

David Rosenberg

In Tel Aviv, reporting on business and tech

Technicians work at the headquarters of the Israeli company 1MRobotics, in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv on, January 11, 2023. - Behind a seemingly ordinary storefront in Tel Aviv, the Israeli company is speeding up online shopping by replacing staff with robots that manoevure around small, streetside storerooms. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

The Middle East joins the global supercomputer competition

While most of the Middle East is not competing in the supercomputing race, Israel is one of a handful of countries that include Saudi Arabia and the UAE that have the high-tech aspirations, financial resources and local talent to be players

David Rosenberg

David Rosenberg

In Tel Aviv, reporting on business and tech

An Israeli worker walks between solar panel rows laid out at a farm on the outskirts of Moshav Haspin in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights near the border with Syria on January 8, 2023. (Photo by JALAA MAREY / AFP) (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)

Green-tech demand to unlock more deals for Israel in Middle East

Israeli companies offering solutions to climate change, as well as the growing scarcity of land and water, are poised for unprecedented growth opportunities.

David Rosenberg

David Rosenberg

In Tel Aviv, reporting on business and tech

This photo taken on May 27, 2023 shows customers in a cryptocurrency exchange office in Hong Kong. Retail investors in Hong Kong may soon be able to buy popular cryptocurrencies like bitcoin at government-licensed exchanges, thanks to new rules meant to bolster the city's standing as a digital asset hub. (Photo by Peter PARKS / AFP) / TO GO WITH HongKong-China-economy-Cryptocurrency,FOCUS by Holmes CHAN (Photo by PETER PARKS/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE to cooperate with Hong Kong on fintech, crypto as China ties grow

China’s relations with the UAE and other Gulf states are strengthening, particularly regarding economic and energy matters.

Andrea DiCenzo/Getty Images

Analysis

Gulf space sector attracts private companies, including Bezos' Blue Origin

The Middle East and North Africa is one of the world's most active regions in expressing interest in space technology and travel.

By Salim A. Essaid

Workers install electric wires for Iraqi refugees as they set up a new part of the Khazir refugee camp near the Kurdish checkpoint of Aski Kalak, 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, Nov. 21, 2016.

Iraqi Kurdistan's first solar plant helps with power outages, boosts agriculture

The Kurdistan Regional Government’s efforts to increase renewable energy usage come amid persistent electricity shortages throughout Iraq, as well as rising environmental concerns.

Meta-nose smell detector

Analysis

UAE gets whiff of metaverse's smell potential

The United Arab Emirates's metaverse-friendly environment is attracting ambitious projects like Meta-nose, which can identify thousands of smells and convert them into digital data.

By Salim A. Essaid

Rayyanah Barnawi

Meet Rayyanah Barnawi, Saudi Arabia's first female astronaut to go to space

Rayyanah Barnawi said she’ll be taking Arabic coffee with her to drink aboard the International Space Station, teaching children, and practicing zero-gravity space flips with her colleagues.

Hydrogen-powered car

King Mohammed IV launches Morocco's first hydrogen car

The development of the hydrogen-powered vehicle, due to be released in 2025, is a response to the rising global demand for sustainable cars.

Coinbase 'welcomed' to Abu Dhabi's Hub71, hinting at new base in UAE

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said at a Dubai-based tech event that the UAE could serve as a hub for parts of the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.

United Arab Emirates

H225M helicopter

UAE axes $879m military helicopter deal with Airbus

Muammar Abdulla Abushehab, defense and security industry affairs sector chief for the UAE’s Tawazun Council, stressed that the decision was not a political one.

United Arab Emirates

An illustration picture taken in London on Dec. 30, 2021, shows gold-plated souvenir cryptocurrency coins.

UAE reprimands cryptocurrency firm OPNX

The company, which is planning a transparent crypto platform, allegedly did not receive the necessary regulatory authority from the UAE.

A photo taken on March 31, 2023 in Manta, near Turin, shows a computer screen with the home page of the artificial intelligence OpenAI web site, displaying its chatGPT robot. - Italy's privacy watchdog said on March it had blocked the controversial robot ChatGPT, saying the artificial intelligence app did not respect user data and could not verify users' age. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP) (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)

In water-starved Middle East, large ChatGPT data centers are a threat

The UAE announced its record-breaking green data center in February of this year. The Moro Hub, created by the digital arm of DEWA, became the largest solar-powered data center, according to Guinness World Records.