Weekly News Blast – 22nd May 2025

Welcome to the GDCA Weekly News Blast! Check out the latest industry news from the GCC region below. Have any Middle East data centres news you’d like to share? Email yours to [email protected] with NEWS in the subject line.
Industry News

UAE

US and UAE announce plans to build a 5GW AI data centre campus

On his recent GCC visit, US President Donald Trump and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan have announced a monumental AI data centre campus in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi. The 10-square-mile UAE x US AI campus will be built by Emirati AI company G42 and is expected to reach 5GW in capacity. Timelines for the project were not shared, but the US government said that the first phase will span 1GW and is expected to use nuclear, solar, and gas power…Read more

Nvidia, Cisco, Oracle, and OpenAI join the UAE x US AI campus

Nvidia, Cisco, Oracle, and OpenAI are among the companies planning to operate out of the newly announced UAE–US AI campus in the United Arab Emirates. The 5GW campus, unveiled during President Trump’s recent GCC visit, is set to support American hyperscalers. According to CNBC, part of the campus will be operated as a “UAE Stargate”—Stargate being the name of OpenAI’s joint venture to build massive data centres for AI training and inference. This follows the recent launch of OpenAI’s “Stargate for Countries” initiative, which aims to partner with 10 countries to develop regional mega-campuses. In this instance, Oracle will once again play a role in the Stargate project. The campus will utilise Nvidia GPUs and Cisco networking equipment…Read more

Italy and the UAE announce an AI centre deal

Italy’s AI startup iGenius and the UAE’s G42 have partnered to develop a major AI supercomputer in Italy. The deal is part of a broader framework, announced at a Summit in February, where the UAE pledged to invest $40bn in Italy. The AI data centre project, known as Colosseum, will involve a $1bn investment over the next 5 years and will use Nvidia technology. Abu Dhabi-based G42 will be the main financier of the initial phase of the project, building what they are describing as ‘’the largest AI computing deployment’’ in Europe…Read more

KSA

I Squared Capital joins forces with PIF for regional infrastructure push

US-based infrastructure investment firm I Squared Capital recently signed an MoU with Saudi Arabia’s PIF to establish a dedicated infrastructure fund focused on the Middle East. Signed during the recent US-KSA Forum in Riyadh, the fund will target infrastructure projects in the Kingdom and the wider region, signalling growing interest in cross-border infrastructure investment between the US and the GCC. In the same week, I Squared Capital also signed an MoU with The Arab Energy Fund (TAEF) – a multilateral financial institution focused on the MENA energy sector – aimed at investing in regional connectivity and energy infrastructure…Read more

Interesting News

The UAE’s MGX, Nvidia, and French partners team up to build 1.4GW data centre campus in Paris

The UAE investment fund MGX and Nvidia are joining forces with French partners to launch a joint venture aimed at building an AI campus in the French capital. Expected to become the largest of its kind in Europe, the 1.4GW campus reportedly represents a $9.5 billion investment. The partners plan to establish Europe’s first dedicated hub for developing and deploying intelligent systems, covering everything from model training to real-world applications. This announcement builds on broader AI cooperation agreements endorsed by the UAE President and French President at the AI Action Summit earlier this year, deals that reportedly included $56.4 billion in Emirati investment into data centres across France. The project aims to accelerate AI adoption across sectors such as healthcare, transport, energy, manufacturing, and finance, while also supporting Europe’s digital sovereignty goals…Read more

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