The US and the United Arab Emirates are to collaborate on building what they called the largest data centre complex outside the US, as the UAE seeks to become a global AI power.
The campus is to be initiated with a 1GW data centre using 500,000 of Nvidia’s latest AI accelerator chips, and is planned to eventually span 10 square miles in Abu Dhabi, the countries said.
It is to be built by UAE government-backed AI firm G42 with a total of 5GW of power, which industry watchers said would be the equivalent of more than 2 million of Nvidia’s latest GB200 chips.
OpenAI involvement
OpenAI is expected to be one of the campus’ anchor tenants, the Financial Times reported.
The US characterised the deal as a way of bringing cutting-edge AI technology to countries with “democratic” values and undercutting the influence of China.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the deal, reached during a tour of the Middle East by US president Donald Trump, was a major milestone in sustaining “US AI dominance”.
The White House last week revoked a January export rule brought in by the Biden administration shortly before it was to take effect, which would have placed strict limits on the numbers of advanced chips that countries around the world could buy.
The UAE, like other countries, remains subject to previous export controls that were brought in to prevent advanced chips from falling into the hands of Chinese companies.
China competition
A deal with Microsoft last year included a provision that G42 was to drop its previous ties to Chinese tech companies including Huawei Technologies.
The US said the UAE had agreed to a partnership framework on AI and would implement “stringent measures” to ensure controls around advanced chips.
The provision is a concession to critics within the US government who opposed the repeal of the so-called AI diffusion rule and who believe doing so will make it easier for Chinese companies to gain access to AI chips and computing power.
The White House also said the UAE would fund, build or invest in data centres in the US equivalent to those it builds domestically.
