The United Arab Emirates is reconsidering the physical design of one of the world’s largest planned artificial intelligence infrastructure projects. This comes after Iranian missile and drone attacks raised fresh concerns about the security of large-scale computing facilities in the Gulf.
The planned 5-gigawatt UAE-US AI Campus, originally envisioned as a vast development in Abu Dhabi, could instead evolve into a distributed network of data centers located across several parts of the country. The broader AI project remains intact. However, officials are now looking more closely at resilience, physical protection, and how much critical computing capacity should be concentrated in one place.
Security has suddenly become part of the AI infrastructure equation alongside electricity, cooling, chips and network connectivity.
UAE AI Data Center Plan Could Move Beyond One Giant Campus
The original UAE-US AI Campus was announced as a 5GW artificial intelligence infrastructure project covering around 10 square miles in Abu Dhabi. G42 is leading the development alongside major US technology partners. The project is positioned as one of the largest concentrations of AI computing capacity outside the United States. Reuters reported that officials are now considering spreading future facilities across several locations. They may do this rather than keep the full planned capacity concentrated within a single campus. A distributed model could give the UAE greater redundancy and reduce the risk that one attack, power disruption or infrastructure failure could affect a large portion of the country’s AI compute resources.
Missile and Drone Protection Is Becoming Part of Data Center Design
The rethink appears to go much further than simply choosing different locations. UAE officials are reportedly reviewing stronger protective measures for future AI facilities, including hardened structures, electronic jamming systems, backup power and cooling. They are also considering defenses designed to respond to missile or drone threats. Some sensitive computing infrastructure could also potentially be placed underground. These discussions show how rapidly the security requirements surrounding frontier AI infrastructure are changing. This is especially true in regions where geopolitical risks can directly affect critical technology assets.
Underground AI Facilities Are Reportedly Under Consideration
Another option reportedly being examined involves placing some sensitive infrastructure inside mountains or below ground. Parts of Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah offer mountainous terrain that could support more heavily protected facilities compared with flatter areas around Abu Dhabi. Underground data centers are not entirely new. Operators elsewhere already use former mines, caves, and hardened military sites for highly secure computing environments. What makes the UAE discussion significant is the scale. Infrastructure supporting frontier AI models could eventually require the same kind of physical protection traditionally associated with other strategic national assets.
Iranian Attacks Changed the Risk Calculation
The reassessment followed missile and drone attacks linked to the regional conflict involving Iran. Reuters reported that attacks targeting Gulf states hosting American forces caused damage to technology infrastructure in the region, including Amazon Web Services facilities in the UAE and Bahrain. The incidents highlighted a vulnerability that is often missing from conventional data center planning. Operators usually focus on cyberattacks, outages, equipment failures and power availability. However, the possibility of direct physical attack adds a much more complicated layer to the equation.
Stargate UAE Was Reportedly Identified as a Potential Target
Iranian military messaging also reportedly identified Stargate UAE as a potential target. The project is being developed near Al Dhafra Air Base outside Abu Dhabi, according to Reuters, and the base hosts US military personnel. That proximity adds another strategic consideration to the project. A large AI facility filled with advanced GPUs, high-capacity networking equipment, and power infrastructure could carry enormous economic and technological value. Once such a site becomes associated with broader national or military partnerships, planners also have to consider how that changes its security profile.
Stargate UAE First Phase Is Still Moving Ahead
The security review does not appear to mean that Stargate UAE is being suspended. The first 1GW phase of the project is still expected to move forward, although additional protection could be incorporated into the development. Construction began in 2025. The first 200MW of capacity has been targeted for operation during 2026. OpenAI announced Stargate UAE in May 2025 as its first international Stargate deployment, with G42, Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco, and SoftBank involved in the initiative. The current discussions suggest the architecture surrounding later phases could change even if the core project continues.
A $30 Billion AI Cluster Carries Strategic Importance
The first 1GW phase of Stargate UAE is expected to represent an investment of roughly $30 billion, according to Reuters. That makes the project far more significant than a conventional commercial data center development. Facilities at this scale contain expensive accelerators, networking systems, power infrastructure and specialized cooling equipment designed to support advanced AI training and inference. They also create computing capacity that governments, businesses, and research institutions may eventually rely on. Therefore, protecting that infrastructure becomes a question of economic resilience as much as technology operations.
UAE-US AI Partnership Remains at the Center of the Project
The UAE’s AI infrastructure expansion remains closely tied to its technology relationship with the United States. The UAE-US AI Acceleration Partnership has supported access to advanced American hardware. It has also linked infrastructure development with security and governance requirements. G42 has positioned Stargate UAE as part of a trusted technology environment built around US regulatory expectations. American companies including OpenAI, Nvidia, Oracle, Cisco, and Microsoft have all expanded their involvement in the UAE’s AI ecosystem. This move reinforces Abu Dhabi’s ambition to become one of the world’s largest hubs for advanced computing.
Microsoft and G42 Are Expanding AI Capacity Elsewhere in the UAE
The Stargate project is only one part of a much larger infrastructure push. Microsoft and G42 have also announced additional data center expansion through Khazna Data Centers. Cisco and G42 are developing secure AI infrastructure involving advanced accelerators, networking technologies, and cybersecurity systems. These investments show that the UAE is still moving aggressively toward greater computing capacity. The question is no longer whether the country wants more AI infrastructure. Instead, the more immediate issue is how that infrastructure should be distributed and protected.
Distributed AI Infrastructure Could Become the New Model
Large data centers have traditionally benefited from concentration. Building massive facilities in one place simplifies power distribution, fiber connectivity, cooling systems and operations. However, geopolitical risk changes that calculation. A network of AI facilities spread across several locations may cost more to build and operate, but it also provides resilience. If one site experiences an outage, attack, or infrastructure failure, capacity elsewhere can continue running. Cloud providers already use similar redundancy principles across availability zones. The UAE could now be applying the same idea to the physical geography of its AI infrastructure.
AI Infrastructure Is Starting to Look Like National Infrastructure
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the UAE’s rethink is how quickly artificial intelligence infrastructure is moving beyond the technology sector. Advanced computing facilities increasingly resemble other strategic assets such as power plants, ports, telecommunications networks and energy infrastructure. Countries competing for AI leadership need advanced chips, reliable electricity, fiber networks, cooling systems and skilled workers. In regions facing elevated geopolitical risk, they may also need hardened facilities, backup sites and physical defenses.
The UAE still appears determined to build one of the largest concentrations of artificial intelligence computing capacity in the world. What may change is the assumption that all of that capacity should sit inside one enormous campus.
If the revised approach moves forward, Stargate UAE and the wider UAE-US AI Campus could become an early example of a new infrastructure model. This model would consist of hyperscale AI facilities designed not only for performance and efficiency, but also for geopolitical resilience.
Sources
Reuters — UAE revises AI data center plan after Iranian attacks, sources say
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/uae-revises-ai-data-center-plan-after-iranian-attacks-sources-say-2026-09-11/
OpenAI — Introducing Stargate UAE
https://openai.com/index/introducing-stargate-uae/
