A US-backed deal announced last month to build a massive 10 square mile data centre campus in the United Arab Emirates using hundreds of thousands of cutting-edge Nvidia AI chips is far from having been finalised over US national security concerns, Reuters reported.

The deal was announced with fanfare during a visit to the UAE by US president Donald Trump, with a first phase, known as Stargate UAE, scheduled to go into operation next year.

But officials in the two countries have as yet arrived at no means of resolving concerns involved in the project’s use of advanced US AI technology and it is unknown when they might do so, the report said.

Security concerns

US officials reportedly have yet to determine what security conditions will be attached to the AI chips or how the agreement with the Gulf state will be enforced.

The report’s sources did not specify whether new evidence had emerged, but said existing concerns around the UAE’s links to China and Russia remain unresolved.

During the visit the UAE agreed to align its national security regulations with those of the US.

But the report indicated US officials doubt whether the country, even if it wishes to do so, will be able to stop US technology from falling into the hands of adversaries.

The White House reportedly has no clear timeline for finalising the deal, which would require the UAE to agree to US controls that have yet to be defined, while the UAE could also request amendments that could delay final approval.

US controls would reportedly be likely to prohibit the use of Chinese technology and restrict the employment of Chinese nationals at the AI campus.

Multilateral ties

In the US, both Democrats and Republicans have expressed opposition to shipping large amounts of advanced US AI technology to the UAE, which has historically cultivated ties with Russia and China as well as with the US, for instance deploying Huawei 5G technology during Trump’s first term over US objections.

The country has been a base for companies evading sanctions on Russia since 2022 over the war in Ukraine and for organised AI chip smugglers to China, while Chinese companies Alibaba Cloud and Huawei remain active there.

The project’s initial phase is planned to come online next year with an estimated 100,000 Nvidia Grace Blackwell GB300 chips, the company’s most advanced to date, with 1 gigawatt of power capacity, eventually expanding to cover 10 square miles with 5GW of power.