Follow the trade, investment and partnerships bringing China and the UAE closer together.
Alibaba Cloud has announced plans to expand its data center capacity in the United Arab Emirates and several international markets. Unveiled at the 2026 Apsara Conference in Hangzhou, the initiative aims to meet rising demand for AI workloads and agent-native enterprise applications. The rollout will expand the company's global footprint to 31 regions and 107 availability zones.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company has sold at least 30 million barrels of spot crude to Asian refiners and trading houses, trade sources reported. Chinese purchasers Unipec and Rongsheng Petrochemical secured up to 10 million barrels of Upper Zakum crude. The transactions covered Das, Upper Zakum, and Umm Lulu grades for June to August loading.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that diplomatic pressure has prompted regional governments to introduce economic measures targeting Iran's banking and aviation sectors. In the Middle East, the UAE suspended Iranian carrier flights and placed regulatory restrictions on local branches of Iran's Bank Melli. US authorities warned that third-country entities servicing Iranian aircraft face exclusion from the US dollar system.
Alibaba announced plans to expand its UAE data centre facilities over the next 12 months to address regional demand for enterprise AI models. Concurrently, Abu Dhabi Global Market released the agenda for Abu Dhabi Finance Week 2026, featuring dedicated investment dialogues focused on China.
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