The UAE’s G42 Group has received the green light from the United States to import the most advanced AI chips— a decision the White House described as reflecting “deep trust” between the two countries, accelerating the shift from planning to actual implementation of the largest AI computing corridor between the UAE and the U.S.
The approval allows G42 to activate the “Stargate UAE” project — a 1-gigawatt AI computing complex the company is building for OpenAI in partnership with Oracle, Cisco, NVIDIA, and SoftBank — and supports the larger 5-gigawatt U.S.-UAE AI campus, designed to deliver high-performance, low-latency compute and inference across the entire region.
With this milestone, the UAE positions itself as a secure and reliable alternative to U.S. and Asian data-center hubs, reinforcing its status as a new global center for artificial intelligence that combines exceptional performance with geopolitical trust, marking the beginning of an entirely new phase in the global race for technological supremacy.
Peng Xiao, CEO of G42, said: “This announcement marks a true turning point. We are moving decisively from planning to execution, setting a new global benchmark for secure, high-performance computing. Everything we build in the UAE will be matched exactly in the United States, ensuring identical performance and trust at every site.”
The chips will operate under the Regulated Technology Environment (RTE) framework developed by G42 and approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce, keeping the UAE the only country in the region applying this level of compliance with U.S. export-control standards.
For his part, Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the UAE’s Council for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology, emphasized: “This decision reaffirms the depth of the strategic partnership between the two nations. Technology is not just a tool of progress; it is a platform for economic stability, regional security, and long-term cooperation. We are proud that the UAE has become Washington’s most trusted partner in this field.”
The decision also strengthens G42’s partnerships with Microsoft, AMD, Qualcomm, Cerebras, and others. It follows the company’s management of three of the world’s Top500 supercomputers and the recent launch of “Maximus-01” in New York, which ranked 20th globally.
The approval comes as G42 already operates three Top500 supercomputers—holding the second and third positions regionally—alongside the newly launched “Maximus-01,” which entered directly at rank 20 worldwide. The company’s footprint now spans Abu Dhabi, France, and several U.S. states including California, Minnesota, Texas, and New York.
With this licensing step, the UAE officially becomes the most secure and highest-performing AI node outside the United States, ushering in a new chapter in the global race toward secure massive-scale computing.
G42 is a globally leading technology group focused on building and advancing artificial intelligence solutions to shape a better future. Founded in Abu Dhabi, it operates worldwide, promoting AI as a transformative force for public good across multiple sectors.
