OpenAI announced plans to construct a large-scale computing facility in Abu Dhabi, following a deal between the Trump administration and the Gulf nation.

The project will be part of a joint venture involving Oracle, Nvidia, SoftBank, Cisco, and G42, an Emirati AI firm, according to The New York Times.

The first of several planned data centres is expected to be operational next year.

G42 is also set to provide funding for the construction of OpenAI data centres in the US.

For every dollar invested in the UAE, the firm and its partners will invest an equivalent amount in the US.

While OpenAI did not disclose the cost of the Emirati facility, the scale of the project suggests that G42 could invest tens of billions of US dollars in each country.

Sam Altman, Chief Executive of OpenAI, has spent more than a year advocating for the global development of extensive data infrastructure to support the creation of powerful AI systems.

The announcement in the UAE signals that his ambitious initiative, known as Stargate, may be beginning to gain traction.

The plan coincides with a separate agreement reached last week between the US and the UAE to establish an AI campus in Abu Dhabi.

This facility will be powered by five gigawatts of electricity, reportedly enough to supply all the homes in Minnesota, making it the largest project of its kind outside the United States.

The proposed data centre development in the Middle East has sparked debate in Washington.

Trump administration officials who advanced the deal, including David Sacks, the White House’s AI adviser, have presented it as a strategic move to align Gulf States with American AI technologies and reduce reliance on China.

However, others within the administration and in Congress have voiced concerns about potential national security risks and the possibility that the region could become a significant AI competitor to the US.

“The administration decided to partner with one of the most sensitive regions in the world and picked this battle,”

said Pablo Chavez, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

“The question is: Is this the blueprint and model for what the US does in Asia, in Africa and Europe?”

Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Middle East, based on image by Phonlamaistudio via Freepik