United Arab Emirates: technology profile

AI

The United Arab Emirates has treated artificial intelligence as state policy since 2017, when it launched the UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence. The government's stated goal is 100% reliance on AI for government services and data analysis by 2031. G42, an AI company, leads the country's largest project. Reuters describes G42 as controlled by national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan. Abu Dhabi's Technology Innovation Institute publishes the Falcon family of language models, including Arabic and Emirati-dialect versions.

The centerpiece is the UAE-US AI Campus, announced during President Donald Trump's visit in May 2025. OpenAI said its Stargate UAE partnership with G42, Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco and SoftBank included a 1 gigawatt (GW) cluster in Abu Dhabi. It said 200 megawatts were expected to go live in 2026. Reuters puts the full campus plan at 5 GW and the first phase's cost at $30 billion. A White House fact sheet said the UAE also committed to fund or build US data centers at least as large and as powerful as its own. It cited a 10-year, $1.4 trillion framework for UAE investment in the United States. These are pledges, not money spent.

Reuters, citing six people familiar with the matter, reported on September 11, 2026 that the project would likely become a network of data centers across the country. It said the first plan was one 10-square-mile campus. Authorities were also weighing air defenses and underground construction after Iranian missile and drone attacks during the war that began in February 2026. Two Amazon Web Services data centers in the UAE were damaged in March, the report said. G42 told Reuters work was progressing as planned and that specifics were under continuous review.

Chips and hardware

The build-out depends on advanced chips from US companies such as Nvidia, which are subject to export controls, the rules that decide which foreign buyers may receive them. A final rule from the US Bureau of Industry and Security, effective July 10, 2026, moved the UAE into Country Group A:5. It had been in Groups D:3 and D:4. UAE government agencies and approved companies may now receive advanced computing items without a license. The list names two UAE-based firms, G42 and Core42, and eight US companies: Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI. The authorization for G42 and Core42 expires on April 6, 2027, absent further notice. The rule says the two must become US companies by then or apply to keep their status.

Microsoft paid $1.5 billion for a minority stake in G42 in 2024. It told Reuters in September 2026 that it plans to invest more than $10 billion across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait by 2030.

Robots and autonomy

Uber and China's WeRide launched driverless rides in Abu Dhabi in November 2025. Dubai's strategy aims to shift 25% of transportation to autonomous modes by 2030, the UAE government says. WeRide suspended its Dubai fleet in early March 2026 as the war widened. It continued to operate in Abu Dhabi. On March 31, WeRide and Uber said they had started paid, fully driverless rides in two Dubai districts.

Space

The UAE has previously placed a spacecraft in orbit around Mars. Its next deep-space project, the MBR Explorer, is set to launch in March 2028 and visit seven main-belt asteroids, ending at 269 Justitia, according to Scientific American. It will carry a probe built by Abu Dhabi's Technology Innovation Institute, which The National reported had completed vibration testing by October 2026.

Energy technology

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Company says the four APR1400 reactors at the Barakah plant produce 40 terawatt-hours a year, around 25% of the country's electricity needs. The federal Energy Strategy 2050 was launched in 2017 and later updated. It aims to triple the contribution of renewable energy by 2030 and lift clean sources to 32% of installed capacity by 2031, the government says.

What to watch

• Whether the first 200 megawatts of Stargate UAE come online in 2026. Reuters said it could not establish how the redesign would affect cost or schedule.
• The April 2027 expiry of license-free chip access for G42 and Core42. Bloomberg reported on September 4, 2026, citing people familiar with the matter, that G42 executives had held exploratory talks about selling a majority stake to American companies.
• The March 2028 launch window for MBR Explorer. The mission director said there is no backup plan if it is missed, The National reported.