OpenAI has signed deals across energy, investment and government sectors in the United Arab Emirates as the AI lab works to secure funding from investors in the region as part of a $20 billion round.
CEO Sam Altman met with Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, as the artificial intelligence lab secured arrangements for a number of sectors to use its models, the Abu Dhabi Media Office said on Monday.
While the Middle East has emerged as a key AI hub in recent years, with U.S. big tech companies signing deals to develop huge data centers in the region, ongoing conflict has tested that appeal.
OpenAI and Anthropic have turned to Middle East investors as they’ve looked for ever-larger pools of capital to fund growth.
MGX, an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm, has backed both labs, including co-leading Anthropic’s $30 billion raise in February and OpenAI’s $122 billion raise in March. OpenAI is currently seeking to raise $20 billion in a new funding round co-led by investors from the United Arab Emirates, CNBC reported on Saturday.
“Abu Dhabi and the UAE are setting a bold, global standard for AI integration across both the public and private sectors to make sure the benefits of AI reach everyone,” Altman said in a statement. “We are proud to support the UAE’s ambition, anchored in a shared commitment to safety, accessibility and responsible innovation.”
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, or ADNOC, G42 signed an agreement to deploy OpenAI’s frontier technology. Sovereign investor Mubadala, Inception42 and OpenAI signed an agreement to apply advanced AI capabilities to investment analysis.
The Abu Dhabi Government announced an initiative with the AI lab to translate government policies and regulations in machine-readable form. Inception42 and OpenAI also signed a five-year agreement to enable the adoption of frontier AI across government, enterprise and education.