The project, known as Stargate UAE, was originally conceived as a large 5-gigawatt AI data-centre campus in Abu Dhabi. Authorities are now considering a network of facilities distributed across the UAE rather than concentrating the infrastructure at a single site, according to people familiar with the plans.
The changes reflect growing concern that large technology facilities could become targets during regional conflicts. Officials are examining measures including underground construction, blast-resistant structures and additional air-defence capabilities to protect sensitive computing infrastructure.
The project is strategically important to the UAE's attempt to establish itself as a global AI hub while reducing the economy's dependence on hydrocarbons. It is being developed with U.S. technology companies under the broader Stargate initiative involving OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank.
The first phase carries a reported value of $30 billion and is designed around a 1-gigawatt computing cluster. About 200 megawatts of capacity had been scheduled to come online during 2026.
The security reassessment follows attacks in March that damaged data-centre infrastructure in the UAE and Bahrain. Two Amazon Web Services facilities in the UAE were among the sites affected, while cloud services in the region remained disrupted.
The developments demonstrate how geopolitical risk is increasingly becoming an infrastructure consideration for the global technology industry. Data centres require enormous amounts of electricity, connectivity and physical security, making their location strategically important to both governments and technology companies.
The UAE had sought to use its access to energy, capital and geographic connectivity to become a major centre for artificial-intelligence computing. Its agreement to deepen ties with U.S. technology providers also came with restrictions on its AI relationship with China and commitments to investment in U.S. infrastructure.
The revised approach could increase construction costs and extend project timelines, although the precise financial impact has not yet been determined.
For global technology companies, the UAE's experience illustrates a wider challenge: the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure is creating valuable physical assets that must operate reliably even as geopolitical tensions increase.
The shift towards geographically distributed facilities could ultimately become a broader model for critical computing infrastructure. Rather than concentrating billions of dollars of processing capacity in one location, operators may increasingly prioritise redundancy, resilience and physical security alongside access to power and connectivity.
For the UAE, the stakes are particularly high. Its AI ambitions now depend not only on attracting advanced chips and technology partners but also on demonstrating that the Gulf can remain a secure environment for the infrastructure supporting the next generation of computing.
