OpenAI is in discussions to become a primary tenant in a 5-gigawatt data centre campus planned for Abu Dhabi, Bloomberg reported on Friday. The facility, spanning approximately 10 square miles, is part of a broader US-UAE agreement to establish the largest AI campus outside the US.
The project, led by Emirati firm G42, is expected to utilise nuclear, solar, and gas power sources. The data centre aims to serve as a regional hub for AI infrastructure, providing services to areas within a 2,000-mile radius.
As part of the agreement, the UAE may be permitted to import up to 500,000 Nvidia H100 AI chips annually starting in 2025. This move aligns with the US administration’s plan to ease previous export restrictions on advanced semiconductors.
The initiative is a component of the Stargate project, a collaboration involving OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle, aimed at developing large-scale AI infrastructure globally. The Abu Dhabi campus is set to surpass the capacity of a similar facility under development in Texas.
OpenAI’s participation has not been finalised, but a formal announcement is expected soon.
