OpenAI is building a data center the size of Monaco with the power of 5 nuclear reactors

The project to build a giant 5-gigawatt data center in Abu Dhabi, which OpenAI plans to implement, forces us to rethink the scale of resource provision for modern artificial intelligence systems. According to Bloomberg, this infrastructure initiative will occupy an area of about 10 square miles, which exceeds the territory of the state of Monaco, and will consume energy equivalent to the output of 5 nuclear reactors.

The project is being implemented in partnership with G42 – a technology conglomerate from Abu Dhabi. And represents part of the large-scale Stargate initiative. As part of this joint venture, OpenAI together with SoftBank and Oracle plan to build a network of powerful data centers around the world. Equipped with high-performance computing chips to support developments in the field of artificial intelligence.

Comparative analysis shows the unprecedented scale of the Middle Eastern project. If the first Stargate campus, being built in Texas, is designed for a capacity of 1.2 gigawatts, then the facility in the UAE will exceed it more than 4 times.

OpenAI’s relationship with the United Arab Emirates has its own history. The partnership with G42, aimed at promoting artificial intelligence in the Middle East, was formalized back in ’23. And OpenAI CEO Sam Altman noted that, I quote, “the UAE was talking about artificial intelligence before it became fashionable.”

Well, the gigantism of infrastructure projects in the field of artificial intelligence demonstrates the fundamental contradiction of the industry. While the largest companies declare their desire to democratize access to artificial intelligence, the physical implementation of these systems requires resources available only to geopolitical players of national scale.