Tech leaders unite to build Stargate UAE AI hub
Global tech giants unite for 1-Gigawatt Initiative, part of US-UAE AI cluster
#UAE #AI - Abu Dhabi will become the first location outside the United States to host a Stargate AI infrastructure cluster, as leading UAE-based artificial intelligence company G42, ChatGPT developer OpenAI, cloud computing giant Oracle, AI infrastructure leader NVIDIA, Japanese tech investment conglomerate SoftBank Group, and global networking leader Cisco announce their partnership to build the 1 Gigawatt Stargate UAE facility. The initiative forms part of the 5 Gigawatt UAE-U.S. AI Campus announced during the UAE visit of US President Donald Trump last week. The first 200 Megawatt cluster of Stargate UAE is expected to become operational in 2026, accelerating scientific discovery and driving innovation across healthcare, energy, finance and transportation sectors.
SO WHAT? - The Stargate UAE partnership represents the first major international expansion of the Stargate AI infrastructure model announced beyond American borders. The development establishes the UAE as a strategic hub for global AI development and demonstrates how nation-states can simultaneously develop sovereign AI capabilities whilst building international technological collaboration. Stargate UAE also signals a fundamental shift towards distributed AI infrastructure that will have an impact on global technology governance, interdependencies in the global digital economy and what it means to lead in the AI era.
Here are all the key details of the Stargate UAE announcement:
Six global tech companies have partnered to build Stargate UAE, a 1GW AI compute hub that forms part of the 5GW UAE-U.S. AI Campus announced during the UAE visit of US President Donald Trump last week.
G42, OpenAI, Oracle, NVIDIA, SoftBank Group, and Cisco announces their partnership to build Stargate UAE via a joint press release on Thursday.
Stargate UAE will provide best-in-class infrastructure, nation-scale compute, and low latency inferencing to deliver AI that will meet the demands of an increasingly intelligent world. The tech partners expect the first 200-megawatt AI cluster to go live in 2026.
G42 will build the infrastructure whilst OpenAI and Oracle will operate the facility, with NVIDIA supplying the latest Grace Blackwell GB300 systems for computing power.
Cisco will provide zero-trust security architecture and AI-ready connectivity infrastructure, whilst SoftBank Group participates as a strategic partner in the initiative.
The Stargate UAE initiative also represents the first milestone in OpenAI's "OpenAI for Countries" programme, aimed at building AI infrastructure partnerships with international allies.
Under the partnership OpenAI, the UAE will become the first country in the world to enable ChatGPT nationwide. Meanwhile, Stargate UAE has the potential to provide AI infrastructure and compute capacity within a 2,000-mile radius.
The Stargate UAE project builds upon the U.S.-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership framework announced alongside the UAE-US AI Campus launch, deepening bilateral cooperation on artificial intelligence development.
UAE entities will invest into U.S. Stargate infrastructure, and other US AI infrastructure projects aligning with the America First Investment Policy framework.
The UAE-U.S. AI Campus will operate within a 10-square-mile campus providing 5 gigawatts of AI data centre capacity, making it the largest such deployment outside the United States.
The full AI campus will be powered by nuclear, solar and natural gas sources to minimise carbon emissions, whilst housing a science park focused on innovation and talent development.
ZOOM OUT - Stargate UAE is the first international deployment of the ambitious Stargate Project, a $500 billion American AI infrastructure initiative announced by US President Donald Trump in January 2025 and compared to the Manhattan Project in its scale. The Stargate venture (Stargate LLC, Delaware), led by SoftBank and OpenAI with Oracle and MGX, aims to secure US AI leadership whilst creating hundreds of thousands of jobs by 2029. The UAE partnership launches OpenAI's "OpenAI for Countries" programme, designed to help allied governments build sovereign AI capabilities through collaboration with the U.S. government and American tech firms, establishing a framework for democratic nations to participate in the US AI infrastructure expansion.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
Pictured in the main image above, from left to right:
Marty Edelman, General Counsel of G42; HH Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Adviser, Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology Council (AIATC);
HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Deputy Prime Minister;
Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of NVIDIA;
Sam Altman, Co-founder and CEO of OpenAI;
Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group;
HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates;
Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer of Cisco;
Peng Xiao, Group CEO of G42;
Mike Sicilia, EVP Global Industries of Oracle;
HH Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Vice-Chairman of AIATC;
HE Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of Mubadala Investment Company and Member of the AIATC.
LINKS
Read the OpenAI blogpost on Stargate UAE (OpenAI.com)
Read the Cisco press release (Cisco.com)
Read more about the planned UAE-USA AI Campus in Abu Dhabi:
UAE-US to launch AI cluster with 5GW data centre (Middle East AI News)