OpenAI is also about to construct a new 5-gigawatt data center campus in Abu Dhabi. As proposed, this project presents an incredible opportunity to be one of the largest AI infrastructure projects undertaken on the planet. This partnership is a significant component of OpenAI’s partnership with the UAE. In order to further promote innovation and foster the growth of AI across the full region, we entered a strategic partnership with G42 also in 2023.
The proposed data center campus would cover 10 or more square miles. Its power consumption, once operational, will equal the output of five nuclear reactors. OpenAI will be one of the central anchor tenants in this massive, 45,000-square-foot complex. This is all part of a larger arts initiative known as the Stargate project. This public-private collaboration, which launched in January, includes heavy hitters such as SoftBank and Oracle. Together, they plan to construct massive hyperscale data centers across the globe.
OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, recognized the UAE’s proactive stance on AI during a talk in Abu Dhabi earlier this year. He added, “The UAE has been bragging about AI before AI was even considered cool. This is a testament to the country’s innovative spirit and progressiveness towards technology.
A joint venture with OpenAI, G42 has drawn the ire of U.S. lawmakers. This key scrutiny comes due to its connections to other blacklisted firms such as Huawei and the Beijing Genomics Institute. There have similarly been alarm bells about G42’s connections to those with personal connections to Chinese intelligence advancing operations. Concerned about these risks, G42’s CEO decided to act. He assured that the company has already completed divesting from all of its former China investments. As a result, we have eliminated the need for any physical China presence altogether. This departure represents a larger move by G42 to position itself as more palatable to U.S. interests while better severing ties with its previous backgrounds.
The participation of high-profile individuals in G42, like former GCHQ chief Jeremy Fleming, only highlights the significance of this company in the UAE’s technological ecosystem. Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security advisor & half-brother of the country’s president, chairs the company. Such leadership sends a powerful signal of governmental support for its priorities.
It is an ambitious and transformative initiative that will reverberate deeply throughout the state’s local economy and influence the success of the global AI ecosystem. This joint effort seeks to further develop the region’s technological infrastructure. Beyond that, it places Abu Dhabi at the center of the global AI industry.
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