UAE chip deal: AI campus deal puts Abu Dhabi on global tech map
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed and US President Donald Trump witnessed the unveiling of plans for a new 5GW UAE-US AI Campus in Abu Dhabi during the US leader's visit to Qasr Al Watan on Thursday.
The campus will include 5GW of capacity for AI data centres in Abu Dhabi, providing a regional platform from which US hyperscalers will be able to offer latency-friendly services to nearly half of the global population living within 3,200km of the UAE, according to the US Department of Commerce and Wam.
The Commerce Department described the AI campus as one of the largest outside the US, and said it would be home to large and small companies that can help to “leverage the capacity for regional compute with the ability to serve the Global South".
The almost 26-square-kilometre campus will be built by UAE AI company G42 in Abu Dhabi and operated in partnership with several US firms.
Once complete, the UAE-US AI Campus will also be able to minimise carbon emissions by using nuclear, solar and gas power.
"Today’s agreement is a testament to the ongoing collaboration between our countries in artificial intelligence,” said Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi and UAE National Security Adviser.
“It is an expression of the UAE’s commitment to pioneering innovation and fostering global collaboration in artificial intelligence, strengthening the UAE’s position as a hub for cutting-edge research and sustainable development, delivering transformative benefits for humanity.”
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said: “Today’s agreement launches an historic Middle Eastern partnership on AI between our two nations and it promotes major investment in advanced semiconductors and data centres across the US and the UAE.
“In the UAE, American companies will operate the data centres and offer American-managed cloud services throughout the region. The agreement also contains strong security guarantees to prevent diversion of US technology.”
Plans for the campus are part of a larger US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership announced during Mr Trump’s visit to the UAE.
Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE's ambassador to the US and a Minister of State, spoke highly of the AI partnership announced Thursday.
"The AI Acceleration Partnership is a testament to our trusted, decades-long alliance," he said. "Now, with deeper technology co-operation, we will achieve even greater prosperity for Emiratis and Americans."
Nvidia’s chief executive Jensen Huang was also at the signing ceremony marking the beginning of the AI acceleration partnership.
