OpenAI, Oracle Corp ORCL, Nvidia Corp NVDA, Cisco Systems, Inc CSCO, SoftBank Group SFTBF SFTBY, and Group 42 Holding announced their partnership to build Stargate UAE on Thursday.
Stargate UAE is a next-generation AI infrastructure cluster that will run in the newly established 5-gigawatt UAE–U.S. AI Campus in Abu Dhabi.
G42 will build Stargate UAE, a 1-gigawatt compute cluster, and OpenAI and Oracle will operate it.
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The collaboration will also include Cisco, offering its zero-trust security and AI-ready connectivity, SoftBank Group, and Nvidia, which will supply the latest Nvidia Grace Blackwell GB300 systems.
The first 200-megawatt AI cluster will likely go live in 2026. Stargate UAE will accelerate scientific discovery and drive innovation across industries ranging from healthcare and energy to finance and transportation, fueling future economic growth and national development.
The full UAE–U.S. AI infrastructure campus, which spans 10 square miles, is the largest such deployment outside the U.S. It will provide 5 gigawatts of AI data center capacity and regional compute resources.
The facility will be powered by nuclear, solar, and natural gas to minimize carbon emissions. It will also house a science park driving innovation, talent development, and sustainable compute infrastructure.
Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, said, “AI is the most transformative force of our time. With Stargate UAE, we are building the AI infrastructure to power the country’s bold vision – to empower its people, grow its economy, and shape its future.”
Chuck Robbins, chair and CEO of Cisco, said, “Cisco is proud to join Stargate UAE to advance groundbreaking AI innovation in the UAE and around the world. By embedding our secure AI-optimized networking fabric for this international deployment, we’re building smart, secure and energy-efficient networks that will turn intelligence into impact at global scale.”
“By establishing the world’s first Stargate outside of the U.S. in the UAE, we’re transforming a bold vision into reality. This is the first major milestone in our OpenAI for Countries initiative, our effort to work with allies and partners to build AI infrastructure around the world. It’s a step toward ensuring some of this era’s most important breakthroughs, safer medicines, personalized learning, and modernized energy, can emerge from more places and benefit the world,” Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI stated.
A report in April indicated that Stargate is weighing a future investment in the U.K. to build the global infrastructure needed to support advanced artificial intelligence models.
The OpenAI and SoftBank-backed AI infrastructure joint venture is raising $100 billion in investment in AI infrastructure projects, which could reach $500 billion over the next four years.
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