In the heart of the desert, amid sands and political agreements, a new structure is emerging that could shift the global balance of power in artificial intelligence. G42, the leading Emirati AI company, has launched construction of the largest next-generation computing center outside the US. Named the UAE–US AI Campus, the site spans 26 km² and will deliver up to 5 gigawatts of power. This isn’t just a data center—it’s an infrastructural declaration.
The project was formally unveiled during Donald Trump’s visit to Abu Dhabi and signed in the presence of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. The initial phase includes a 1-gigawatt center with 500,000 Nvidia GB200 chips. For comparison: Elon Musk’s Colossus in Tennessee houses 200,000 previous-generation chips. The scale is undeniable.
The symbolism is clear: G42, founded in 2018, has already received $1.5 billion in funding from Microsoft and is a partner of OpenAI, Oracle, and World Liberty Financial. Through MGX—a joint fund by G42 and Mubadala—the Emirates are becoming a core player in the global AI capital network.
This campus will be more than a computing hub. It is a tool of technological sovereignty, a pillar of the Emirates’ strategy to transition beyond oil. Since 2025, AI has been part of the school curriculum starting in kindergarten. Digital agents operate within the government. Now comes the infrastructure for world-class AI development.
Crucially, access to the campus’s capacity will be limited to approved US hyperscalers and providers, underscoring the depth of the political-tech alliance. In return, the Emirates have pledged to fund mirrored capacity within the US.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is signing agreements with Nvidia to build “AI factories.” But compared to G42’s project, these moves look like groundwork. Abu Dhabi, on the other hand, is already building the next capital of AI.
This is no longer a startup race. It’s about strategic state positioning through algorithmic architecture and model training infrastructure. The map of future digital geopolitics is likely to be drawn not in Silicon Valley, but in places where oil once flowed—now replaced by code.
