OpenAI just teamed up with Abu Dhabi's G42 on the Stargate UAE initiative, giving every UAE citizen and resident free access to ChatGPT Plus, normally $20 a month. The transcontinental pact also includes plans for a massive 5-gigawatt AI supercomputing campus, with the first data center slated to go live next year.
OpenAI just launched Stargate UAE alongside G42, Nvidia, Oracle, and SoftBank as its first international infrastructure hub under the OpenAI for Countries initiative. The plan involves building a 1GW compute cluster in Abu Dhabi with 200MW arriving in 2026, while the UAE enables ChatGPT nationwide.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella just addressed the G7 Summit, revealing the company poured $5 billion into cloud and AI infrastructure across Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Kenya over the past three months. Teaming up with UAE-based G42, Microsoft is building trusted data zones and driving sustainable data centers to bend the productivity curve in emerging markets.
Sam Altman is reportedly in talks with SoftBank and Abu Dhabi's G42 to raise roughly $100 billion to fund a global network of semiconductor fabrication plants. Codenamed Project Tigris, the venture aims to take OpenAI beyond chip design into direct manufacturing, taking on Nvidia's monopoly and easing the AI hardware crunch.
