The United Arab Emirates is reviewing plans for a massive 5-gigawatt artificial intelligence data center project in Abu Dhabi that was being developed with U.S. tech giants, Reuters reported, citing multiple sources.
The 5-GW UAE-US AI Campus was presented last year as a central part of the UAE’s push to become not only a regional hub but also a global leader in AI development and computing capacity.
Under the original plan, Abu Dhabi was to host a sprawling complex with 5 GW of capacity for AI data centers. The site was meant to serve as a regional platform from which U.S. hyperscalers could offer low-latency services to nearly half of the world’s population living within 3,200 km (2,000 miles) of the UAE.
But the war with Iran and repeated Iranian missile and drone attacks targeting U.S. assets and U.S.-linked critical infrastructure in the Persian Gulf have prompted Emirati authorities to reassess the project. According to Reuters’ anonymous sources, including a U.S. official, a Western diplomat and industry executives, the UAE is now considering turning the single campus into a network of data centers across the country while also improving protection for critical facilities against missile and drone strikes.
G42, which is leading the project, told Reuters in response to questions that “The project’s specifics are subject to continuous review in line with the security, resilience and operational standards expected of critical infrastructure at this scale.”
Reuters also said that earlier this year Iranian drones damaged three Amazon Web Services (AWS) facilities in the region, with direct hits on two UAE facilities and one strike on a site in Bahrain.
Following several such attacks and attempted attacks in the Persian Gulf, the UAE began reviewing the large AI campus plan, Reuters’ sources said. The facility had been expected to become one of the biggest of its kind outside the United States, but the need to protect critical infrastructure and reassure investors could reshape the final design.
