From Oil to AI: UAE’s Stargate Campus Targets 200 MW Online by 2026
A major oil exporter, the UAE, along with other Gulf countries, has been trying to shed its traditional image to become an exporter of new oil- AI.
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[Image source: Chetan Jha/MITSMR Middle East]
G42 acting group chief global affairs officer Talal Al Kaissi has said he expects the first 200 megawatts of a planned 5-gigawatt artificial intelligence campus in the United Arab Emirates to be operational by the end of 2026.
He shared the expectation at GITEX Global 2025. “Building towards the (first) 1 GW, we have 200 MW that should come online next year,” he said.
A major oil exporter, the UAE, along with other gulf countries, has been trying to shed its traditional image to become an exporter of new oil, AI. In a bid towards this goal, they have leveraged its ties with the U.S. to secure access to the latest technologies.
”The rest of the four gigawatts, we’re also in deep discussions with other hyperscalers from the U.S.,” said Al Kaissi.
Project Discussions Still Underway
In May, during U.S President Trump’s visit, the two countries signed a multibillion dollar deal to build one of the world’s largest data centre hubs in Abu Dhabi with U.S. technology. G42 is working with tech giants such as Nvidia, OpenAI, Cisco, and Oracle, along with Japan’s SoftBank, to build the first phase, known as Stargate UAE, which is slated to go online in 2026.
OpenAI also said it expects a 1GW Stargate UAE cluster in Abu Dhabi with 200MW to go live in 2026.
This came as a big win for the UAE who is trying to balance its relations with longtime ally the U.S. and its largest trading partner, China.
However, things have been far from progressing towards building the campus.
In June, sources familiar with the matter revealed that the U.S. officials were yet to determine the security conditions to export the advanced chips or how the agreement with the Gulf state will be enforced.
Refuting the speculations, Al Kaissi has said he regularly visits Washington to support good working relations.
