OpenAI has officially confirmed its expansion into the Middle East with the launch of Stargate UAE, a massive data center initiative set to transform the region’s AI infrastructure. The project, part of the company’s broader Stargate program, will establish a 1-gigawatt data center cluster in Abu Dhabi. Initial phases of development aim to activate 200 megawatts of capacity by 2026 through collaborations with tech leaders like G42, Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco, and SoftBank.
The UAE facility is positioned as a cornerstone of OpenAI’s “Countries” initiative, designed to support governments in developing sovereign AI capabilities alongside U.S. oversight. As part of this partnership, the UAE will become the first nation to integrate ChatGPT access at a national level, enabling widespread public use of OpenAI’s conversational AI tools.
Strategic plans highlight Stargate UAE’s potential to serve as a regional AI hub, offering computational resources and infrastructure across a 2,000-mile radius. This development aligns with global AI infrastructure trends, as evidenced by Elon Musk’s recent announcement of xAI’s planned gigawatt-scale training cluster—marking an accelerating race to build next-generation computing capacity for artificial intelligence.
