US and UAE collaborate on AI megaproject to boost regional innovation

“The UAE-US AI campus offers organizations in the region a unique opportunity to prioritize low-latency AI use cases and accelerate real-time decision-making,” said Eric Samuel, associate director at IDC. The nuclear-solar-gas power mix guarantees always-on, sustainable compute infrastructure, noted Samuel.

The new “US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership” aims to deepen bilateral tech cooperation while addressing US concerns over Chinese influence. The UAE has been making moves in AI for a while, like having an AI Minister since 2017 and their own AI university since 2019.

Strategic edge of Gulf AI hub

Spanning 10 square miles, Abu Dhabi’s AI campus aims to become the nucleus of GCC-focused innovation across finance, energy, and healthcare, developing regionally tuned large language models and domain-specific breakthroughs. A dedicated science park will be designed to accelerate R&D, while its hybrid energy mix could offer a sustainability edge.