Cnn
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The United States and the United Arab Emirates will join forces to build a complex of massive data centers in Abu Dhabi to advance artificial intelligence capacities with 5 capacity gigawatts – enough to supply a large city.
The agreement, announced Thursday during the visit of American president Donald Trump to water, will mark the largest deployment of the data center outside the United States, according to the Commerce Department. It will start with an AI data center of 1 Gigawatt, but will end up to 10 square miles.
The project should also extend the imprint of American and cloud companies in the Middle East, which allows them to better serve the world South.
No company was appointed in the announcement of the trade department, although the CEO of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, was spotted during one of Trump’s water meetings. Nvidia refused to comment.
Trump has worked to push investment in AI, because the success of American technological companies is considered key to preserving the position of the United States as global superpower.
“By extending the main American technological battery in the world to an important strategic partner in the region, this agreement is an important step in the realization of the vision of President Trump for the domination of the AI,” said trade secretary Howard Lutnick in a statement.
The water also said that he wanted to become a world leader in artificial intelligence by 2031.
Before Trump’s visit, the Minister of Water Education, Sarah Al Amiri, said that the country was trying to diversify its economy, especially in the fields of AI and technology. Investments in AI infrastructure is considered crucial to secure the post-petroleum future of the region.
The White House also announced on Thursday an agreement under which the United Arab Emirates have undertaken to build or finance data centers in the United States which are “at least as large and as powerful” as those of water.