OpenAI’s Upcoming Abu Dhabi Data Center Will Surpass the Size of Monaco

OpenAI is planning to build a very large and powerful data center campus in Abu Dhabi, with a total capacity of 5 gigawatts. This project will be so big that it is being compared to five nuclear power plants. According to a recent Bloomberg report, OpenAI is playing the main role in this project and it can become one of the world’s largest AI infrastructure projects.

This data center will spread over an area of ​​​​about 10 square miles, which is larger than a country like Monaco. So far OpenAI or any of its competitors have not announced a project with such a large capacity.

This project is being developed in collaboration with Abu Dhabi technology company G42. G42 is a large technology group that works in areas like artificial intelligence, cloud and healthcare. This project of OpenAI and G42 is being known as ‘Stargate’. It was announced in January 2025 and under this, state-of-the-art data centers are to be built around the world, where AI models will be trained and run through powerful chips.

OpenAI is already building its first Stargate project in Abilene, Texas, USA, which will have an estimated capacity of 1.2 GW. But Abu Dhabi’s new project will be four times larger than this.

This partnership has come at a time when cooperation between the US and the UAE on AI is deepening. The partnership between OpenAI and G42 began in 2023. At that time, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in Abu Dhabi that “UAE is one of the countries that has been thinking seriously about AI long ago, when this subject was new to most people.” However, some US officials have expressed concern about this partnership. The chairman of the G42 company is Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also the brother of the ruler of the UAE and the National Security Advisor. US officials fear that China may get access to US advanced AI technology through G42.

This is because some of G42’s past ties have been with companies such as Huawei and Beijing Genomics Institute, which have been blacklisted by the US government. Apart from this, some reports have also mentioned the links of G42 with such individuals who have been associated with Chinese intelligence agencies.

However, in early 2024, the CEO of G42 told Bloomberg that the company has completely ended all its Chinese investments, and now it has no office or activity in China.

Subsequently, Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, also invested $1.5 billion (about Rs 12,000 crore) in G42 and Microsoft President Brad Smith was included in the board of G42. Through this move, Microsoft wants to further strengthen its presence and partnership in the Middle East.