How the UAE Is Building One of the World’s Most Powerful AI Hubs
The United Arab Emirates is undertaking one of the most radical infrastructural steps in the history of artificial intelligence. G42 is building an enormous AI campus in Abu Dhabi of 5 gigawatts of energy footprint, specifically to support advanced computing on AI, with an energy footprint larger than several nuclear power plants. In fact, rather than a symbolic investment, the project is an indication of the UAE interest in becoming a hub in the global AI system, striking a balance between scale, sovereignty, and global cooperation at a time when AI power becomes more geopolitical.
A New Scale of AI Infrastructure
Behind the initiative is nothing but the raw computing power. The optimized campus will enable the ultra-large model training and inference at a larger scale than ever, and the approximate capacity is expected to be up to 100 trillion tokens per day. The modern models are powered by tokens, small text or data that is processed by AI systems. This amount of daily production makes the UAE one of a very small number of nations that can run AI systems at global level and serve governments, businesses, and research institutions in different regions.
Strategic Partnerships and Sovereign AI
The AI initiative in the UAE does not occur in solitude. The partnership with the U.S. technology giants, such as Microsoft, illustrates the approach of safe, autonomous AI, where the innovation of the future is combined with reliable regulations. Such alliances emphasize a pattern of collaboration, as opposed to competition, which places the UAE as a neutral space where international companies can design, test, and implement AI systems without violating national data governance.
Abu Dhabi-based @G42ai is building 5 gigawatts of AI capacity in the UAE, aiming to output 100 trillion tokens daily. But what does that even mean? At @WorldGovSummit, I caught up with UAE AI Minister @OmarSAlOlama to unpack that and how the country is scaling its AI ambition. pic.twitter.com/3fqTQxJ2C3
— Becky Anderson (@BeckyCNN) February 4, 2026
Beyond Compute: Digital Embassies and Agent Factories
One of the differences is the fact that the UAE is ready to try new ideas. Concepts like the use of digital embassies- safe areas that countries or organizations may store data under their jurisdiction as dictated by their legal systems rethinks data sovereignty in a networked world. Coexisting with this is the concept of what I will call an agent factory, where independent AI agents can be created, tried, and managed at scale and new forms of productivity are possible with significant ethical concerns.
Global and Regional Implications
To the Western nations, the emergence of the UAE presents a new possibility in place of the U.S.-China-controlled AI market, which would promote discussions on diversification in innovation centers, ethical principles and cross-border partnerships. It is a move towards pan-Arab technological independence in the Arab world and less reliance on foreign platforms, and it introduces the topic of culturally aligned AI development.
As AI continues to reshape the field of economics, security, and culture, the 5-gigawatt bet in the UAE can be seen less of it being a matter of power consumption, and more of it having to do with power projection in the era of intelligence.
