News

Global Tech Leaders Unite To Launch Stargate UAE AI Supercluster

G42, OpenAI, Oracle, and other global tech giants will build a 1-gigawatt AI infrastructure hub spanning 10 square miles in Abu Dhabi.

Published

1 year ago

May 23, 2025

Nour Nasir

global tech leaders unite to launch stargate uae ai supercluster

G42

In a landmark move for artificial intelligence and global tech collaboration, G42, OpenAI, Oracle, NVIDIA, SoftBank Group, and Cisco have announced the launch of Stargate UAE, a next-generation AI supercluster that will form the core of the newly unveiled UAE–U.S. AI Campus in Abu Dhabi.

The project marks the first Stargate deployment outside the U.S. and will deliver 1 gigawatt of AI compute capacity. Operated by OpenAI and Oracle and built by G42, the facility will run on NVIDIA’s latest Grace Blackwell GB300 systems, integrating cutting-edge AI infrastructure with sovereign-grade data security. The first 200-megawatt cluster is expected to go live in 2026.

Spanning 10 square miles and offering 5 gigawatts of total AI data center capacity, the UAE–U.S. AI Campus will be the largest deployment of its kind outside the United States. Powered by a mix of nuclear, solar, and natural gas, the campus aims to minimize carbon emissions while driving sustainable innovation. It will also house a dedicated science park focused on talent development, R&D, and advanced computing.

Stargate UAE is designed to unlock scalable, low-latency AI capabilities for industries ranging from healthcare and energy to finance, education, and transport. It reflects a shift toward sovereign infrastructure that can power national-level innovation with global impact.

G42 Group CEO Peng Xiao described the launch as a “significant step in the UAE–U.S. AI partnership,” calling it a bridge rooted in trust and ambition. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman framed the project as the first major milestone in the company’s OpenAI for Countries initiative, focused on building global AI infrastructure with trusted partners.

Also Read: Saudi Arabia’s $5B AI Zone To Spark Tech Jobs & Global Innovation

Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison emphasized the role of Stargate in delivering “nation-scale digital sovereignty,” while NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang called it a bold investment in powering the country’s vision for AI-driven growth. SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and Cisco’s Chuck Robbins echoed similar sentiments, underscoring the potential of this collaboration to fuel global transformation.

As global demand for AI infrastructure surges, Stargate UAE positions the Emirates as a frontrunner in the race to deliver secure, sovereign, and scalable AI infrastructure — with benefits that stretch far beyond its borders.

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News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.