News

Dubai’s Food Tech Valley & ReFarm Plan Hi-Tech Gigafarm

The “vertical farm” venture is expected to be operational by 2026 and will be capable of replacing 1% of UAE fresh produce imports.

Published

3 years ago

December 8, 2023

Nour Nasir

ReFarm

Food Tech Valley, a Dubai-based technology center designed to address food security, has entered a partnership with the ReFarm group to build a gigafarm capable of growing over three million kilograms of produce annually.

The project, which starts in mid-2024, aims to help decarbonize UAE food production, replacing 1% of the country’s fresh produce imports. Both parties signed an agreement at this year’s COP28, which should see the 83,612-square-meter farm becoming fully operational by 2026.

As well as producing vast quantities of food, the high-tech farm will be capable of recycling over 50,000 tons of food waste each year while growing two billion plants.

“Rethinking our food production systems is a clear priority, and the decision of ReFarm to launch a facility in Dubai’s Food Tech Valley is a significant step forward for the development of a technologically advanced, low-carbon agricultural sector,” said Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade.

The gigafarm will be split into four zones: Agritech and engineering, food innovation, research and development, and smart food logistics. In addition, the site will become a closed-loop circular waste-to-value system, maximizing resources and preventing waste from entering landfills by creating organic compost.

Also Read: Abu Dhabi’s Hub71 To Help Climate Technology Startups

“This is one of many transformative projects which is set to be part of Food Tech Valley, which will have a significant impact on the UAE’s food security, maximizing the use of precious resources and decarbonizing the food supply chain,” explained Hesham Al Qassim, chief executive of Wasl Asset Management Group, which is developing the project alongside the Ministry of Food and Water Security.

Technologies used at the gigafarm are expected to recover 90% of the ammonia sulfate from wastewater, and no mains or groundwater connection will be required for the vertical farm to produce fresh produce. Developers claim the site will be 98% more efficient than traditional field-based farming.

News

Samsung’s Fold Goes Wide, And The Whole Galaxy Range Gets Pricier

A new titanium build and a first-of-its-kind AI chip for wearables anchor the range, yet native Qi2 charging still isn’t part of the deal.

Published

3 days ago

July 23, 2026

Dana Saadeh

Samsung

Samsung has run its Galaxy foldable and smartwatch reveals in July for several years now, which is likely a deliberate way of jumping early on the autumn hardware calendar. The 2026 event stuck to the same timings, though prices climbed too, albeit unevenly: $100 on the Flip, a new $2,100 Ultra tier above last year’s flagship, and $30 to $50 on the watches.

At the top sits the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra at $2,100, a slab that measures just 4.1mm open and carries a 200MP main sensor, a 5,000mAh battery and an 8-inch interior display. Beneath it, the $1,900 Galaxy Z Fold 8 makes the more interesting bet. Samsung has stepped away from the tall, narrow shape it spent recent generations refining: the Fold 8 folds horizontally, so it’s wider than it is tall, with a 4:3 interior screen that sits about 9mm wider than the Ultra when closed. It drops the telephoto lens but gains battery, at 4,800mAh.

The clamshell Galaxy Z Flip 8 rounds out the phones at $1,200, up from the Flip 7’s $1,100, which was itself up from the $1,000 Flip 5.

All three devices run the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy and share a new Flex Titanium construction, a titanium alloy layer set beneath the flexible OLED that Samsung says strengthens display support, absorbs impact and reduces crease visibility. The progress has limits: none of the phones support Qi2 charging natively, 18 months after the Qi2-ready Galaxy S25. That means buyers will still need a magnetic case to get the most from a Qi2 charger.

The wearables move in the same upward direction. The Galaxy Watch 9 ($380 Bluetooth, $430 LTE) and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 ($700) both run Qualcomm’s 3nm Snapdragon Wear Elite, the first wearable chip with a dedicated Hexagon NPU capable of supporting AI models with two billion parameters. The Ultra 2 is 12 percent thinner than its predecessor despite an 800mAh battery and a display reaching 5,000 nits.

Also Read: Dubai Police Finishes 65 Projects, Says AI Is The Next Priority

Pre-orders open today. The devices are set to reach shelves on August 7.