The United Arab Emirates is reviewing the project for a 5-gigawatt artificial intelligence campus in Abu Dhabi after Iranian attacks hit data centers in the region. The plan may stop concentrating all infrastructure in a single area and instead distribute facilities across the country, according to six sources interviewed by Reuters this Friday (11).
The review includes measures to protect data centers against missiles and drones. Among the alternatives being evaluated are underground structures, blast-resistant concrete, air defense systems and electronic jamming equipment, in addition to greater power and cooling redundancy.
The project had been presented in 2025 as a campus of approximately 26 square kilometers, with a total capacity of 5 GW. Within it, Stargate UAE is planned, a cluster of 1 GW developed by G42 with OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco and SoftBank. The first phase, of 200 MW, was planned to go into operation in 2026.
Attacks put security at the center of the project
Reuters reported that the first phase, estimated at US$ 30 billion, is expected to continue at the originally planned site, though with security changes. The following phases tend to be distributed across different regions of the Emirates, but the new design has not yet been finalized and it is not clear whether there will be an impact on costs or timelines.
The change began to be discussed after Iranian attacks in March damaged two Amazon Web Services data centers in the Emirates and another in Bahrain. In April, Iran's Armed Forces also released a video indicating Stargate UAE as a possible target.
For facilities that store more sensitive information, including military data, authorities are also considering building structures inside mountains. The country has mountainous areas mainly in the emirates of Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah.
G42 told Reuters that construction is proceeding as planned, but acknowledged that project details are subject to continuous review in accordance with security and resilience requirements. OpenAI said it continues to work with the Emirates and that there is progress on the infrastructure needed for the project.
The 5 GW campus is part of the technology partnership between the United States and the Emirates announced in 2025. Stargate UAE represents 1 GW of that total capacity, while the rest of the complex was planned to host other artificial intelligence computing operations.
