The Gulf Built Its AI Empire During Conflict, How Could Peace Change Things?

When drone strikes hit two AWS data centres in the UAE and one facility in Bahrain on 2 March 2026, and the IRGC published a list of 29 technology targets across the Gulf, the reasonable assumption was that the region’s AI ambitions would stall. Instead, the Gulf states forged ahead. With contracts finalised, chips secured and foundational infrastructure already in place, there was no turning back.

Stargate UAE, the 1GW AI infrastructure cluster being developed in Abu Dhabi by a consortium including G42, OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia, SoftBank and Cisco, announced its first 200MW phase targeted for later in 2026. Saudi Arabia’s Humain secured $23 billion in strategic technology partnerships with AWS, AMD, Nvidia, Cisco and Qualcomm. The US Commerce Department approved both G42 and Humain to purchase up to 35,000 advanced Nvidia Blackwell GB300 chips each, worth around $1 billion apiece, subject to strict security and reporting protocols. Stargate UAE was announced in May 2025 and the US Commerce Department approved chip exports in November 2025, both before the March 2026 drone strikes escalated regional tensions. Construction continued through it.

Now, with the immediate pressure lifting, the question the Gulf’s tech sector is asking is whether peace changes the trajectory, and if so, how fast.

From Infrastructure To Application

The infrastructure phase of the Gulf AI buildout is largely complete in strategic terms. Compute is secured, partnerships are finalised and the sovereign AI cloud framework is moving from concept to reality. The heavy lifting now begins – moving from building infrastructure to driving actual adoption across industries.

Kadan Stadelmann, Co-Founder and CTO of Compance.AI and a European tech executive based in the UAE, sees the transition clearly. “In times of peace, the Gulf’s AI infrastructure will switch to application-layer scaling, which will likely focus on AI compute services, energy optimisation, smart logistics and ports as well as financial services,” he says. “On a social level, the Gulf can also dedicate itself to upskilling the workforce for the AI age, which is very much already upon us.”

The sectors he names align with where national investment is already concentrated. Healthcare AI, energy optimisation, education and government services all have existing frameworks and clear use cases. The energy sector stands out in particular. On one hand, AI offers real-time optimisation for the region’s massive oil infrastructure; on the other, it provides the precise load balancing and forecasting needed to underpin the Gulf’s ambitious renewable energy goals. The tension between rising AI power demand and renewable energy targets is a genuine constraint, but one the region is at least well-positioned to address given its energy resources.

What Five Years Of Peace Could Look Like

Foreign Policy identifies the UAE and Saudi Arabia as the emerging leaders in global AI compute, second only to the United States. The region was already on this path before recent conflicts triggered a risk premium, chilling international investment and talent recruitment. Peace removes that premium.

Stadelmann’s vision for the next five years is straightforward: “The region is home to operational gigawatt-scale clusters, sovereign AI clouds serving regional governments and enterprises, and a growing number of applied AI uses. Business is feeling optimistic again.” He adds that without the threat to physical infrastructure, “the Gulf can go full throttle once more on research, regulatory maturity and broad-based skills formation.”

Global AI labs have been establishing operations in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh in pursuit of sovereign capital and energy access. This trend accelerates in a stable environment, which means the Gulf starts to function not only as a market for AI products built elsewhere but as a node of AI development. The shift the region has been aiming for, from technology importer to technology contributor, becomes more plausible.

The Obstacles That Don’t Go Away With Peace

Stability is a foundation, not a cure-all, and several structural hurdles remain regardless of regional stability.

Talent remains the most pressing hurdle. As of 2025, fewer than 12,000 certified AI professionals were working across the entire GCC. If these gigawatt-class data centres are to be fully leveraged, the current pipeline of researchers, engineers and practitioners must expand to match the size of the ambition. The UAE has been more successful than most at attracting international talent, but competition from the US, Europe and China for the same pool of researchers is steep.

Stadelmann flags water as a constraint that rarely features in coverage of the Gulf AI buildout: “One notable obstacle to overcome will be the need for water in such an arid region, as well as the need to build a self-sustaining innovation base.” Data centres require intensive cooling, placing further strain on an already water-stressed region. The high energy and resource demands of large-scale AI compute represent a major operational and environmental challenge.

Data fragmentation across entities and countries, evolving privacy regulations and the absence of a critical mass of homegrown startups capable of building on the new infrastructure all remain true constraints. There is, however, a more speculative narrative worth considering: a region that successfully deployed gigawatt-scale AI infrastructure amidst active regional conflict – withstanding drone strikes and persistent security threats – is unlikely to be derailed by workforce shortages or regulatory hurdles.

The Gulf has demonstrated something most tech sectors haven’t had to prove: that it can build under pressure. Whether this peace deal proves more durable than the previous attempts is anyone’s guess – but if it does, the Gulf’s starting point won’t be zero, it will be a gigawatt.