G42 to lead UAE-US mega-scale AI project in Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI, May 15, 2025 – UAE AI player G42 will spearhead the construction of a 10-square-mile AI campus in Abu Dhabi, developed in partnership with leading US technology companies, the White House announced on Thursday.

The project was unveiled at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi in the presence of President of the UAE His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and US President Donald Trump.

Phase 1 of the project includes a 1-GW AI data centre, forming part of a planned 5-GW UAE-US AI campus — the largest such deployment outside the USA.

Built under the US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership, the campus will serve as a regional hub for AI innovation, supporting US hyperscalers and cloud providers with latency-friendly services for nearly half the global population within 3,200 kilometres of the UAE. Once complete, the facility will operate on nuclear, solar and gas power to reduce carbon emissions and include a science park to advance AI innovation.

Read more on the UAE’s pioneering AI projects: AI: the UAE’s power move

“This initiative reinforces our commitment to building the intelligence grid that powers responsible, inclusive AI for the future,” G42 said.

The project will be developed within a shared framework of stringent security protocols, ensuring controlled access to advanced technologies.

Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick described the agreement as a “historic Middle Eastern partnership on AI between our two nations.” He added, “By extending the world’s leading American tech stack to an important strategic partner in the region, this agreement is a major milestone in achieving President Trump’s vision for US AI dominance.”

Lennart Heim, AI expert at RAND Corporation, was quoted by the New York Times as saying that the Abu Dhabi campus would be “bigger than all other major AI infrastructure announcements we’ve seen so far,” including those in the USA.

G42 and its affiliates, Presight and AIQ, are central to the UAE’s ambition of becoming a global AI hub. The company leads technological transformation across key sectors and is actively contributing to the development of international AI safety and security standards.

Read our latest interview with Magzhan Kenesbai, acting managing director of AIQ, here.

G42 is an Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence group focused on digital infrastructure, cloud computing and data analytics. It operates in energy, healthcare, finance and government, and collaborates with international technology leaders to deliver scalable AI systems.

Photo courtesy of the office of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

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