ABU DHABI – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has launched Stargate UAE – a major artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure project in partnership with OpenAI, Oracle, NVIDIA, Cisco, SoftBank Group and G42, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.
Announced in Abu Dhabi in the presence of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the initiative marks a key step in international collaboration on next-generation AI systems.
Stargate UAE will be a 1-gigawatt compute cluster housed within the newly established 5-gigawatt UAE-US AI Campus.
Located in Abu Dhabi, it will be the largest AI data centre development of its kind outside the United States.
The facility will be built by G42 and operated by OpenAI and Oracle.
G42 group CEO Peng Xiao described the effort as a bridge “rooted in trust and ambition,” bringing AI benefits to economies and societies around the world.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the UAE project is the first major step under OpenAI’s new “OpenAI for Countries” programme.
“This is how we make breakthroughs like safer medicine and personalised learning possible from more parts of the world,” he said.
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang called AI the most transformative force of our time. He said Stargate UAE will support the country’s vision to empower people and shape its future.
Nvidia will supply advanced Grace Blackwell GB300 systems, while Cisco will provide AI-ready secure networking. SoftBank is also backing the project financially.
The first 200-megawatt phase is expected to be operational in 2026.
The project will offer large-scale computing power to support sectors such as healthcare, energy, education and finance.
Stargate UAE is also a pillar of the newly launched US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership, aimed at advancing safe and responsible AI development. – May 23, 2025