OpenAI’s Abu Dhabi Data Center: Bigger Than Monaco

Massive AI Infrastructure Project in the UAE

OpenAI is set to anchor what may become the world’s largest AI data center campus in Abu Dhabi – a staggering 5-gigawatt facility spanning 10 square miles. This futuristic complex will consume energy equivalent to five nuclear reactors, making it larger than the entire country of Monaco.

Stargate Project Expands Globally

The UAE development is part of OpenAI’s ambitious Stargate initiative, a joint venture with G42 (an Abu Dhabi tech conglomerate), SoftBank, and Oracle. While OpenAI’s first Stargate campus in Texas will reach 1.2 gigawatts, the Abu Dhabi facility will more than quadruple that capacity.

UAE’s Growing AI Ambitions

OpenAI’s partnership with the UAE dates to 2023 when it collaborated with G42 to drive AI adoption in the Middle East. CEO Sam Altman previously praised the UAE’s early AI vision, noting the country was “talking about AI before it was cool.”

Geopolitical Complexities

The project emerges amid complicated US-UAE AI relations. G42’s previous ties to Chinese entities like Huawei raised US security concerns in 2023. However, G42 has since divested from China and received a $1.5 billion investment from Microsoft, which also holds significant OpenAI shares.

This groundbreaking data center represents both the massive scale of modern AI infrastructure and the complex international partnerships required to power the next generation of artificial intelligence.