From left to right: Marty Edelman, General Counsel of G42; His Highness Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Adviser, Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology Council (AIATC); His Highness 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; His Highness 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; His Highness 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; His Excellency Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of Mubadala Investment Company and Member of the AIATC.
Stargate UAE is a next-generation AI infrastructure cluster that will run in the newly established 5-gigawatt UAE–U.S. AI Campus in Abu Dhabi.
Stargate UAE is the first international deployment of OpenAI’s AI infrastructure platform, which marks the first partnership under ‘OpenAI for Countries’, the company’s global initiative to help interested governments build sovereign AI capability in coordination with the U.S. government.
Stargate UAE, a 1-gigawatt compute cluster, will be built by G42 and operated by OpenAI and Oracle. The collaboration will also include Cisco, offering its zero-trust security and AI-ready connectivity, and SoftBank Group, as well as NVIDIA. The facility 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 first 200-megawatt AI cluster is expected to go live in 2026.
Peng Xiao, Group CEO of G42, said, “The launch of Stargate UAE is a significant step in the UAE–U.S. AI partnership. As a founding partner, we’re proud to work alongside institutions that share our belief in responsible innovation and meaningful global progress. This initiative is about building a bridge – rooted in trust and ambition – that helps bring the benefits of AI to economies, societies, and people around the world.”
Sam Altman, Co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, said, “By establishing the world’s first Stargate outside of the U.S. in the UAE, we’re transforming a bold vision into reality. This is the first major milestone in our OpenAI for Countries initiative—our effort to work with allies and partners to build AI infrastructure around the world. It’s a step toward ensuring some of this era’s most important breakthroughs—safer medicines, personalized learning, and modernized energy—can emerge from more places and benefit the world.”
Larry Ellison, CTO and Chairman of Oracle, said, “Stargate pairs Oracle’s AI-optimized cloud with nation-scale sovereign infrastructure. This first-in- the-world platform will enable every UAE government agency and commercial institution to connect their data to the world’s most advanced AI models. This landmark deployment sets a new standard for digital sovereignty and demonstrates how nation states can harness the power of the most important technology in the history of humankind.”
Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, said, “AI is the most transformative force of our time. With Stargate UAE, we are building the AI infrastructure to power the country’s bold vision – to empower its people, grow its economy, and shape its future.”
Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, said, “When we unveiled Stargate in the U.S. with OpenAI and Oracle, we set out to build an engine for the next information revolution. Now, the UAE becomes the first nation beyond America to embrace this sovereign AI platform, proving the global nature of this vision. SoftBank is proud to support the UAE’s leap forward. Bold investments, trusted partnerships, and national ambition can create a more connected, more joyful and more empowered world.”
Chuck Robbins, Chair and CEO of Cisco, said, “Cisco is proud to join Stargate UAE to advance groundbreaking AI innovation in the UAE and around the world. By embedding our secure AI-optimized networking fabric for this international deployment, we’re building smart, secure and energy- efficient networks that will turn intelligence into impact at global scale.”
Spanning 10 square miles, the full UAE–U.S. AI infrastructure campus is the largest such deployment outside of the U.S. It will provide 5 gigawatts of AI data center capacity and regional compute resources. The facility will be powered by nuclear, solar, and natural gas to minimize carbon emissions and it will also house a science park driving innovation, talent development, and sustainable compute infrastructure.
The endeavor builds on a new framework by the U.S. and UAE governments, the “U.S.-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership,” to deepen cooperation and collaboration on AI and advanced technologies developing safe, secure, and responsible AI that delivers long-term benefits for humanity. Under this framework, UAE entities will also expand their investments in digital infrastructure in the U.S., in projects such as Stargate U.S., in line with the recently announced “America First Investment Policy.”
OpenAI notes that it has already been engaging with other countries around the world that are interested in building their own Stargates. In the initial phase of OpenAI for Countries, it aims to pursue 10 partnerships across key countries and regions, intending for a globally distributed, democratically powered AI network.
