Key Takeaways
- Construction in advanced stage: the first tranche of 200 megawatts for the Stargate UAE project will come online by the third quarter of 2026, part of a total campus of 1 gigawatt spanning 19.2 square kilometers.
- Technology consortium: led by Khazna Data Centres (G42 group) alongside OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco and SoftBank; approval has been granted for the export to G42 of up to 35,000 Nvidia Blackwell GB300 chips.
- Geographic reach: once operational, the site will be able to serve computing capacity within a 2,000-mile radius, potentially covering half the world's population.
First Phase Nears Completion
Abu Dhabi will bring the first phase of Stargate UAE online by the third quarter of 2026, representing 20% of the site's total planned capacity: 200 megawatts out of an overall target of 1 gigawatt. The project, officially announced in May 2025, marks the first international deployment of OpenAI's Stargate platform and the first partnership under the "OpenAI for Countries" initiative.
Construction by the Numbers
The campus covers 19.2 square kilometers, an area roughly nine times the size of the Principality of Monaco. Over 100,000 cubic meters of concrete have been poured into the structure, and the steel components already installed weigh 1.5 times the Eiffel Tower. More than 5,000 workers are active on site. The expansion plan envisions a joint UAE-US campus reaching 5 gigawatts.
Who's Leading the Project
Development is managed by Khazna Data Centres, a subsidiary of G42. The technology consortium includes OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco and SoftBank. The agreement was coordinated with the US government, which authorized the export of advanced AI chips to G42: up to 35,000 Nvidia Blackwell GB300 units, a significant jump from the two thousand units previously available. Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CEO of Mubadala, described the shift as an acceleration from 5 to 250 kilometers per hour.
Investment Structure
The deal operates on a reciprocity mechanism: while Abu Dhabi hosts the Stargate UAE cluster, the United Arab Emirates makes a corresponding investment in Stargate infrastructure on US soil, part of Abu Dhabi's declared commitment to invest $1.4 trillion in the United States. The entire Stargate project, including US infrastructure, will require an investment of between $40 and $50 billion. In July 2026, MGX, the investment vehicle chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, closed a dedicated AI fund worth $49 billion, following prior investments in OpenAI, xAI and Anthropic.
Expected Impact on Population and Market
Under the agreement, the United Arab Emirates will become the first country to enable ChatGPT at a national level, with expanded access across government, energy, healthcare, education and transportation. Once completed, the site will be able to deliver computing capacity within a 2,000-mile radius, potentially reaching half the world's population and enabling the rollout of AI solutions across the MEASA regional economy, estimated at $8 trillion.
OpenAI has pointed to Stargate UAE as the first piece of a broader plan encompassing 10 similar partnerships in other regions of the world, part of the company's stated strategy to build globally distributed computing infrastructure.
