United Arab Emirates revise data center construction plans following Iranian attacks

In April, Iran’s armed forces released a video warning that the Stargate UAE complex was a potential target. The video displayed a map that purported to show the facility’s location with the caption, “Nothing stays hidden from our sight.” Two sources confirmed the site sits near Al Dhafra Air Base on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, which hosts U.S. troops and has also been targeted during the conflict.

The project is led by G42, the AI firm controlled by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser. It was announced during President Donald Trump’s visit to the Gulf state last year as part of a broader deal in which the UAE agreed to cut AI ties with China in exchange for access to Nvidia chips and other advanced American technology. Construction on the first phase, a $30 billion, 1-gigawatt compute cluster called Stargate UAE built with Oracle, began last year, with the first 200 megawatts due online this year.

The first phase is expected to continue with modifications to protect against aerial threats, while later phases will likely be dispersed across multiple locations. Officials are considering putting facilities that handle the most sensitive data, including military information, inside mountains in Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah. G42 said work on the campus was progressing as planned and 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.”