OpenAI’s planned data center in Abu Dhabi would be bigger than Monaco

Openai is preparing to help develop the campus of an amazing 5 Gigawatt data center in Abu Dhabi, as the company as a major tenant in what could become one of the largest infrastructure projects for Amnesty International in the world, according to a new Bloomberg report.

According to what was reported, the facility will include amazing 10 square miles and consumes equivalent energy for five nuclear reactors, dwarfing any current infrastructure of Amnesty International announced by Openai or its competitors. (Openai was not repeated after the Techcrunch request for comment, but to put it in its right perspective, this is greater than Monaco.)

The United Arab Emirates project, which was developed in partnership with the G42-is a technical group based in Abu Dhabi-part of the ambitious Stargate project in Openai, a joint venture announced in January that can witness Openai, SoftBank and Oracle the creation of huge data centers around the world stored with powerful computers to support AI.

While the first Stargate campus in the United States in the United States – is already under development in Apiline, Texas – to 1.2 GB, its Middle East counterpart would exceed this ability.

The project appears amid AI’s broader relations between the United States and the United Arab Emirates, which were years in the process of preparing, and made some legislators tense.

Openai’s relationship with the United Arab Emirates is due to the 2023 partnership with the G42 that aims to lead the adoption of artificial intelligence in the Middle East. During an interview earlier in the same year in Abu Dhabi, the CEO of Openai, Sam German, praised the United Arab Emirates, saying it “has been talking about artificial intelligence since it was wonderful.”

As with a lot of the world of artificial intelligence, these relationships are complicated. G42 was founded in 2018, chaired by Sheikh Tanoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Adviser in the United Arab Emirates and the younger brother of the country’s ruler. Its embrace by Openai raised concerns in late 2023 among US officials, who were afraid that the G42 would be able to enable the Chinese government to reach advanced American technology.

These concerns focused on the “active relationships” of the G42 with the entities listed in the black list, including the Huawei Institute and Beijing Genomics, as well as relations with individuals associated with Chinese intelligence efforts.

After pressing American lawmakers, the CEO of G42 Bloomberg told early 2024 that the company was transformed its strategy, saying: “All our investments in China that were previously made have already been disposed of. For this, of course, we no longer need any physical presence.”

Soon after, Microsoft – a major shareholder in Openai and has its broader interest in the region – announced an investment of $ 1.5 billion in G42, and its president, Brad Smith, joined the G42 Board of Directors.