Global version of "Stargate" first stop in the UAE? OpenAI is reported to participate in the construction of a 5GW data center

OpenAI's global version of "Stargate" may indeed first land in the UAE, as recent news indicates that OpenAI will participate in the AI park co-built by the United States and the UAE.

On Friday, May 16, Eastern Time, media outlets cited sources saying that OpenAI plans to help establish a large data center in the UAE, which could ultimately become one of the largest data centers in the world. The media believes that this data center is part of OpenAI's "Stargate" initiative aimed at supporting AI development. This is not only a significant investment by OpenAI in the Middle East but also an important move to expand AI infrastructure globally.

Insiders revealed that OpenAI is expected to become a major tenant in the recently announced 5GW data center park to be built in Abu Dhabi. The planned 5GW of power will not be entirely allocated to OpenAI but will be shared among multiple companies. OpenAI's participation has not yet been finalized and may be officially announced soon. Abu Dhabi Investment Company MGX is considering participating in the data center project with OpenAI, and other American companies may also be involved.

Commentators pointed out that the 5GW of power is equivalent to the total output of five nuclear reactors, far exceeding the scale of data center projects announced by OpenAI and its competitors to date. The first data center park of "Stargate" is scheduled to be completed in 2026, with a power supply capacity of 1.2GW. OpenAI also plans to build up to 10 similar parks in the United States.

The day before the news broke, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that the UAE and the U.S. government agreed to establish a "U.S.-UAE AI Accelerated Partnership" framework. The U.S. side will promote deeper technological cooperation with the UAE, including the launch of a phase one planned AI data center with a capacity of 1GW. This data center is part of a total planned capacity of 5GW within the U.S.-UAE AI park's data center cluster, located in Abu Dhabi and covering 10 square miles. The park will be built by UAE technology company G42 and jointly operated with several American companies.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo stated on Thursday: "In the UAE, American companies will operate data centers and provide cloud services managed by the U.S. The agreement also includes strong security assurances to prevent the transfer of U.S. technology."

The U.S. Department of Commerce did not disclose which American companies will participate in the construction of the aforementioned data center but stated that it will be the largest AI park for the U.S. abroad, with major American enterprises and large companies taking residence, which can utilize the region's computing power to serve developing countries in the "Global South."

However, public information shows that several tech executives accompanied Trump on his visit to the UAE, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, and Cisco President Jeetu Patel.

Last week, OpenAI's official website announced the launch of a program called OpenAI for Countries, which will expand the "Stargate" project globally, with the first phase planning to carry out 10 projects with various countries or regions and further expand based on this Less than a week later, news broke that OpenAI is considering building a data center in the UAE. Media reports on Tuesday stated that whether OpenAI can build a data center in the UAE largely depends on whether it can obtain enough cutting-edge chips from NVIDIA.

Additionally, media reports on Tuesday indicated that the Trump administration is considering significantly easing restrictions on NVIDIA's sale of chips to the UAE, allowing some NVIDIA chips imported by the UAE to supply American companies building data centers in the UAE