According to a report published by The National, the UAE's planned artificial intelligence campus could consume electricity equivalent to a quarter of the country's current power demand once operating at full capacity. The projection highlights an emerging test for the country as it seeks to translate energy resources into global computing scale.
Abu Dhabi's digital infrastructure pipeline includes a planned five-gigawatt AI campus, anchored by the one-gigawatt Stargate UAE cluster developed in partnership with technology firms including G42 and OpenAI. A single gigawatt of continuous capacity requires power equivalent to running approximately one million high-end graphics processing units after factoring in cooling and power conversion.
The rising energy and water requirements of hyperscale data centers are prompting calls for integrated resource governance. UAE authorities have noted that digital infrastructure, power production, and industrial cooling must be planned cohesively to maintain sustainable expansion without placing undue strain on national utilities.
Sources
- The National · 2026-10-27
