UAE Ends 2025 as Global Leader in Artificial Intelligence and Digital Growth
Image used for illustrative purpose. Photo: WAM
ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates is ending 2025 as one of the world’s top leaders in artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure, showing how fast the country is moving toward a smart and technology-driven future.
During 2025, the United Arab Emirates reached a global record by using artificial intelligence tools in 97 percent of government departments. At the same time, the number of computer programmers in the country crossed 450,000, showing strong growth in digital skills.
One of the biggest achievements this year was the launch of a huge UAE–US AI campus in Abu Dhabi. The project will use 5 gigawatts of power from nuclear, solar and gas energy. It is now the largest supercomputing center outside the United States and will serve billions of users around the world.
Another major project, called Stargate UAE, was also announced. This 1-gigawatt project brings together G42, OpenAI, Oracle, Cisco, SoftBank and Nvidia. The first phase of this project is expected to start in 2026. The UAE also strengthened its ties with Europe by signing an AI partnership with France. This includes building a 1-gigawatt data center and working together on clean energy, computer chips and shared research platforms.
On the investment side, UAE-based MGX joined global partners such as BlackRock, Microsoft, Nvidia and xAI in a new AI Infrastructure Partnership. This group plans to invest up to $100 billion in future data centers and energy solutions.
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The country also used AI to help the world. At the G20 summit, the UAE pledged $1 billion for the AI for Development program to support projects in Africa. It also partnered with the Gates Foundation on a $200 million project to improve farming and food systems using AI. Inside the country, total spending on AI projects during 2024 and 2025 went beyond AED 543 billion. Big global companies like Microsoft and KKR announced new investments in the UAE.
In technology, the UAE introduced Jais 2, a powerful language model trained mainly on Arabic data. It was built using 600 billion Arabic words, the largest Arabic dataset ever used. The country also launched K2 Think, an open-source AI system designed for advanced thinking and problem solving.
To make sure AI respects local culture, the UAE created the AI in the Ring index. This is the world’s first test to check how well AI systems match the country’s values and traditions. A national report showed that 44 percent of organizations in the UAE now use high-performance computing in areas such as healthcare, banking and security.
In government services, the UAE launched the world’s first AI-based system to study laws and their effects. It also introduced an AI human resources assistant that helps more than 50,000 government workers and runs over 100 services automatically. In education, Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University reported that AI tools reduced teacher workload by 95 percent and helped students perform better.
The UAE Cabinet also announced a new Cybersecurity Excellence Centre in partnership with Google Cloud. The center is expected to create more than 20,000 jobs and boost the country’s digital security.
With these steps, the UAE continues to position itself as a global hub for artificial intelligence, innovation and digital growth.
