South Korea has stepped into the UAE’s Stargate AI project, a major US-backed effort to build one of the world’s largest AI data centre campuses outside America. The collaboration was confirmed after South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi.
With this partnership, South Korea will support the development of high-performance computing capacity and the energy infrastructure needed to run the vast AI ecosystem. The project strengthens South Korea’s push to position itself as a leading AI hub in Asia, especially as the country seeks new engines of growth amid global economic uncertainty.
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix — two giants in the memory chip industry — had already signed preliminary agreements in October to supply advanced chips for OpenAI’s Stargate centres. Their involvement adds serious technical muscle to the initiative.
Beyond computing, South Korea will contribute to building a diversified power grid for the project, drawing from nuclear energy, natural gas and renewables, according to Ha Jung-woo, the presidential secretary for AI.
A new strategic framework agreement between the two nations will expand cooperation across AI investment, infrastructure, supply chains and research.
The Stargate UAE development is part of a wider agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump, even as past US export restrictions had limited access to advanced technologies in the region due to the UAE’s ties with China.
Phase one of the project — a 1-gigawatt AI data campus — will be built by UAE’s state-backed G42 in partnership with OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco and Japan’s SoftBank Group.
