Openai is ready to help develop a stunning campus of the 5-Gigavat Data Center in Abu Dhabi, positioning the company as a primary anchor tenant in what can become one of the world’s largest infrastructure projects, according to a new Bloomberg report.
The facility is reported to include a stunning 10 miles and consumes a power equal to five nuclear reactors, with a dwarf any existing infrastructure announced by Openai or its competitors. (Openai has not yet returned Techcrunch’s request for comment, but to put it in perspective, this is bigger than Monaco.)
The United Arab Emirates project, developed in partnership with G42-An Abu Dhabi-based technology conglomerate-is part of the ambitious OPENAI Stargate project, a joint venture announced in January that can see Openai, Softbank Massive Data Centers. supported the development of it.
While the first Stargate campus of Openai in the US – already developing in Abilene, Texas – is expected to reach 1.2 gigawatts, this Middle East counterpart would be more than four times this capacity.
The project is emerging between the broader links between the US and the United Arab Emirates who have been doing for years, and have become nervous some lawmakers.
Openai’s relationship with the United Arab Emirates dates back to a 2023 partnership with G42 in order to direct the adoption of him to the Middle East. During a conversation earlier in the same year in Abu Dhabi, CEO of Openai Sam Altman praised the United Arab Emirates, saying “has spoken to him as it was good before.”
As with most of his world, these relationships are… complicated. Founded in 2018, the G42 is headed by Sheikh Tahnion bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates National Security Advisor and the country’s younger brother. Her hug from Openai raised concerns at the end of 2023 among US officials who feared G42 could enable the China government to gain access to advanced US technology.
These concerns focused on G42’s “active relationships” with blacklist entities, including Huawei and the Institute of Beijing Genomics, as well as links to individuals associated with China’s intelligence efforts.
After pressure from US lawmakers, the G42 general manager told Bloomberg in early 2024 that the company was shifting its strategy, saying: “All our investments in China that were previously made have already been diverted. Because of this, we no longer need China’s physical presence.”
Shortly thereafter, Microsoft – a major shareholder in Openai with its own wider interests in the region – announced a $ 1.5 billion investment in G42, and its president, Brad Smith, joined the G42 Board of Directors.
