A coalition of leading U.S. technology firms, including Nvidia, Cisco, Oracle, and OpenAI, is backing the newly announced “UAE Stargate” artificial intelligence data center in Abu Dhabi. The U.S. Commerce Department revealed the initiative on May 15, during President Donald Trump’s first state visit of his second term. Emirati company G42 will construct the extensive 5-gigawatt facility, which is set to span 10 square miles and will collaborate with a parallel U.S. Stargate AI infrastructure project.
This development signifies a substantial move by the United Arab Emirates to become a key global AI player and highlights growing international cooperation in building critical AI capabilities. According to an individual familiar with the arrangements, AI chip industry leader Nvidia will supply its latest Blackwell GB300 systems for the UAE Stargate. The project’s first phase will incorporate a 1-gigawatt compute cluster, as stated by the Trump administration. The news underscores the intense global drive for AI leadership, significant Gulf nation investments in advanced tech, and the evolving landscape of U.S. technology export policies. Oracle’s participation was also confirmed by a separate source who wished to remain anonymous.
The high-level U.S. tech delegation in the UAE, which included Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, and Cisco President Jeetu Patel, coincided with these announcements. President Trump also visited Saudi Arabia during this diplomatic trip.
The Stargate Constellation: UAE and US Initiatives
The UAE Stargate initiative is designed to integrate with the existing U.S. Stargate AI project, which gained traction after President Trump’s January 2025 inauguration. In February 2025, OpenAI announced it was evaluating 16 U.S. states for potential Stargate data center locations, as reported by CNBC. Construction for one such U.S. facility is already in progress in Abilene, Texas, with completion anticipated by mid-2026.
The broader Stargate concept, initially a $500 billion U.S.-centric AI infrastructure endeavor, was officially launched in January 2025 by OpenAI and SoftBank Group Corp., according to an OpenAI blog post. This venture also secured early equity from Oracle Corp. and the UAE’s MGX investment fund, as reported by Reuters. Key technology partners for the original Stargate project include Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI, with an estimated power requirement of 5 gigawatts or more. More recently, OpenAI introduced “OpenAI for Countries,” an initiative within the Stargate project to expand data center construction internationally, partnering with nations to build in-country capacity and offer customized ChatGPT services, as TMTPost reported.
Regional AI Aspirations and Shifting US Export Policies
The UAE Stargate announcement aligns with a significant surge in AI investments across the Middle East. In a related development on May 13, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang disclosed that his company would provide 18,000 Blackwell chips to Humain, a Saudi AI entity, for data centers in Saudi Arabia totaling 500 megawatts, a deal covered by CNBC. AMD is also slated to supply chips to Humain, which has committed $10 billion to its AI projects.
Humain, which launched on May 12, and is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, is also collaborating with Amazon Web Services on an “AI Zone” with an investment exceeding $5 billion. Jensen Huang emphasized the foundational nature of such infrastructure, stating, “AI, like electricity and internet, is essential infrastructure for every nation,”
These major technology deals in the Gulf are unfolding amid changes to U.S. export regulations for advanced semiconductors. David Sacks, a White House advisor for AI and crypto, confirmed in Riyadh on May 13, that the Trump administration is rescinding the previous “Biden diffusion rule.”
Sacks stated, “The Trump administration has just announced that we will be rescinding what’s known as the Biden diffusion rule… it literally restricted the diffusion or proliferation of American technology all over the world.,” adding that diffusion is not considered a risk with allies like Saudi Arabia.
A U.S. Commerce Department spokesperson described the former rule as being “overly complex, overly bureaucratic, and would stymie American innovation,” indicating a move towards simpler regulations. This policy adjustment is anticipated to provide Gulf nations with greater access to advanced AI chips. The US and UAE are reportedly finalizing a deal for broader UAE access to advanced AI chips, with security commitments to prevent unauthorized access, particularly from China. The UAE is expected to import 500,000 advanced Nvidia AI chips annually starting in 2025.
US Endorsement and Security Considerations
The preliminary chip deal with the UAE received strong endorsement from U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick: “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.” Lutnick further elaborated that American companies will operate the data centers in the UAE and offer American-managed cloud services regionally.
He emphasized that the agreement also contains “strong security guarantees to prevent diversion of U.S. technology,” as detailed by Tech Research Online. President Trump announced the UAE AI chips deal at the Emirati Capital on May 16, uring a US-UAE Business Council meeting, calling it “a very big contract.”
The plan for OpenAI to establish one of its Stargate centers in the UAE was later confirmed by the White House. The collaboration also reflects a strengthening U.S.-UAE technology corridor.
