Boeing, GE Aerospace Get Qatar Airways Order After Saudi AI Tech Deals

 

Boeing and GE Aerospace received a $96 billion order from Qatar Airways as President Trump looks to boost investments in defense and aircraft in the Middle East after reaching artificial intelligence and tech agreements on Tuesday.

The order, announced Wednesday, includes up to 210 American-made Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 777X aircraft and more than 400 GEnx and GE9X engines from GE Aerospace. The sales figure doesn’t appear to include discounts of as much as 50% to 60%, which are typical for jet deals.

In separate releases, the companies said the agreement marks Boeing’s largest orders for widebody and 787 models to date, GE Aerospace’s biggest widebody engine order and Qatar Airway’s largest aircraft order in its history. The order will make Qatar Airways the largest 787 Dreamline operator in the Middle East and position it for further international expansion, Boeing said.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, right, and President Trump greet Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg in Doha on Wednesday.

The White House said the order will support 154,000 U.S. jobs annually, totaling over 1 million jobs in the U.S. during the course of production and delivery.

“Our team is looking forward to building 787s and 777s for Qatar Airways into the next decade,” Stephanie Pope, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said.

The order is part of a broader effort by Trump to boost American manufacturing with investments from allies such as Qatar, according to the White House. Trump also announced several other deals with the country, including with Raytheon and General Atomics, amounting to more than $243.5 billion in total, the White House said.

Wednesday’s deals come as President Trump continues his four-day tour of the Middle East in an effort to boost trade with the region. On Tuesday, the White House said Saudi Arabia committed to invest $600 billion in U.S. chip companies such as Advanced Micro Devices and other large technology companies like Alphabet , Oracle  and Uber UBER -1.43%decrease; red down pointing triangle, and energy company GE Vernova GEV -0.11%decrease; red down pointing triangle.

The Qatar Airways order includes up to 210 American-made Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 777X aircraft and more than 400 engines from GE Aerospace.

These are some of the deals inked during Trump’s Middle East visit so far, according to the White House:

—Google, DataVolt, Oracle, Salesforce CRM 0.54%increase; green up pointing triangle, AMD and Uber are committing $80 billion in technology investment in both countries.

—Hill International, Jacobs, Parsons and AECOM ACM 0.37%increase; green up pointing triangle are building infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia totaling $2 billion in U.S. services exports.

—GE Vernova will ship up to $14.2 billion in gas turbines and other energy equipment to Saudi Arabia.

—Shamekh IV Solutions will invest $5.8 billion in the U.S., including a plant in Michigan.

—Saudi Arabia’s DataVolt will invest $20 billion in Super Micro Computer’s SMCI 15.71%increase; green up pointing triangle AI data centers and energy infrastructure in the U.S.

—Nvidia NVDA 4.16%increase; green up pointing triangle will sell about 18,000 chips and AMD will sell about $10 billion in processors to Saudi Arabia’s Humain. Cisco Systems CSCO -0.79%decrease; red down pointing triangle also said it will enter a multiyear partnership with the country’s AI initiative.

—Qatar will pay RTX’s RTX 0.05%increase; green up pointing triangle subsidiary Raytheon $1 billion to expand the country’s counter-drone capabilities.

—General Atomics secured a nearly $2 billion agreement for Qatar’s acquisition of its MQ-9B remotely piloted aircraft system.