e& UAE, the flagship telecom arm of global technology group e&, today announced a strategic collaboration with Intel at GITEX Global to establish an AI Centre of Excellence (COE) and co-develop revolutionary edge AI solutions.
The COE will provide a dedicated environment for testing and optimising large language models (LLMs) on Intel Gaudi 3 AI accelerators, which is Intel’s data-centre platform designed for inference of large AI models that provides one of the best in class cost of ownership. The COE streamlines the model lifecycle from experimentation to production. This will accelerate how AI-powered services are built, evaluated and moved into production across e& UAE.
Marwan Bin Shakar, Acting Chief Technology Officer, e& UAE, said: “Our partnership with Intel marks a key milestone in building an AI-native telecom infrastructure. Through the AI Centre of Excellence and edge AI initiatives, we will accelerate large language model development, bring intelligence to the network edge, and extend these capabilities to enterprises across industries, positioning e& UAE at the forefront of the AI revolution. With the COE, we’re standardising how models are tested, optimised and moved into production, improving performance, cost-efficiency and time-to-value for enterprises across the UAE. Together, we’re turning promising AI prototypes into reliable, scalable services that elevate our network and our customers’ operations.”
Renu Navale, Vice President and GM, Smart Cities, Intel, added: “Intel is delighted to have finalised this collaboration agreement with e& UAE. Moving forward, we will support our partner’s efforts to drive digital transformation and launch scalable, reliable, and secure AI services for edge and critical infrastructure with affordable technologies from Intel. In addition, Intel’s portfolio enables new AI models and inferencing at the edge helping ISV’s rapidly build industry-specific Edge AI solutions without lock-in.”
The edge AI solutions will position e& UAE as a key enabler of AI transformation across multiple industry verticals, delivering tailored AI-at-the-edge services to enterprise customers. Powered by Intel Core Ultra processors, Intel Xeon processors and Intel GPUs, these solutions will deliver real-time AI capabilities closer to end-users.
This collaboration between Intel and e& UAE’s technology teams creates a comprehensive AI ecosystem that spans from centralised AI model development to distributed edge computing. The AI COE will serve as a testing ground for AI applications across e& UAE’s network infrastructure and extend these capabilities to enterprise customers across diverse industries. Together, these initiatives aim to enhance operational efficiency, improve customer experiences, and drive innovation across e& UAE’s telecommunications services while strengthening the company’s role as a leading AI infrastructure provider in the UAE.
Through this announcement, e& UAE is advancing its technological capabilities to deliver practical, secure and scalable AI services across the UAE. This agreement aligns with the group’s broader AI strategy, which leverages AI and data analytics to foster operational excellence and support sustainability.
