Latest news with #Emirati-based
Axios
22-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
OpenAI, UAE to build massive AI center in Abu Dhabi
OpenAI will partner with United Arab Emirates to build Stargate UAE, a massive new Middle East data center that's part of the company's OpenAI for Countries push, the deal's participants announced Thursday. Why it matters: The deal is a huge AI bet by the Emirates, which will also secure ChatGPT Plus subscriptions for its entire population, making it the first country to do so. Driving the news: OpenAI and its partners will build a one gigawatt AI computing cluster in Abu Dhabi, with 200 megawatts of that expected to go live next year. This new cluster will be part of the larger 5 gigawatt Abu Dhabi data center that Trump and Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed announced last week. Also, for every dollar the UAE invests in Stargate UAE and the broader data center project in Abu Dhabi, UAE will invest an additional dollar in U.S. AI infrastructure as well — including Stargate. A source tells Axios' Dan Primack that the new UAE investments, via Emirati-based AI investment vehicle G42, could total $20 billion, with expected outlays in the Gulf and the U.S. at $8 to $10 billion each. The deal is a partnership with Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco, SoftBank and G42, a Middle East-based AI startup backed by Microsoft and others. The U.S. government, which has a say over such deals via its export control authority, also gave its approval to the effort. The big picture: Trump's trip to the Gulf brought a slew of AI infrastructure announcements intended to forge a new AI alliance between the U.S. and the region's energy-rich powers. The Trump administration sees these deals as opportunities to spread U.S. power and counter Chinese influence. Critics fear the flow of American chips and know-how into nations like UAE — which has had close ties to China — will make it easier for China to gain access to U.S. technology. What they're saying:"By establishing the world's first Stargate outside of the U.S. in the UAE, we're transforming a bold vision into reality," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement. "It's a step toward ensuring some of this era's most important breakthroughs — safer medicines, personalized learning, and modernized energy — can emerge from more places and benefit the world." Chris Lehane, OpenAI vice president of global affairs, told Axios that OpenAI hopes the deal will help "lead as many countries as possible onto the U.S. rails, into the U.S. AI system. This is a real moment in time to do that — this is an important first brick in the road. There are two countries in the world that can build this at scale, and the U.S. has a lead." What's next: OpenAI says it wants the UAE deal to be the first of many such arrangements.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. Matt Meyer's comments about port automation spark labor rebuke
A brief remark from Gov. Matt Meyer two weeks ago about what he said was 'the need for (an) automated container port' has reignited a backlash from the longshoremen's union that last fall went on strike over that issue, among others. The backlash adds to what have been months of tensions between the governor on one side and lawmakers and certain union officials on the other over how to carry out long-delayed plans to expand the Port of Wilmington through construction of a new container facility in Edgemoor. During a meeting May 19 of a state board that oversees the Port of Wilmington, labor leader William Ashe Jr. referenced Meyer's remarks before stating that Delaware needs a new container port, but not a fully automated one 'because that eliminates jobs.' 'We can't afford to have people going out saying to the public that you're going to build a fully automated terminal,' Ashe said to the board of the Diamond State Port Corp. – a state-chartered entity that oversees the Port of Wilmington and directs its expansion. In recent years, the use of autonomous or semi-autonomous technology on ports has become increasingly common in Asia and Europe, but less so in the United States – in part because of the opposition by unionized labor. Ashe's comments came in response to remarks Meyer made during a sit-down interview with Delaware Online/The News Journal earlier this month, when he said that 'automation and the need for (an) automated container port was recognized really a couple of decades ago in Delaware.' During the interview, Meyer also said he brought a new perspective and 'new attitude that we need to get this new container port done.' Meyer did not detail the ways in which his perspective differs, but did claim that there are people 'who aren't too happy that I won the election.' Meyer became Delaware's governor after a hard-fought and costly political campaign last year that featured much of the state's Democratic establishment supporting his opponent – then-Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long. Asked about Ashe's comments on May 20, a spokesman for Meyer said the governor had never said that Edgemoor should be a fully automated port – contrasting full automation with modern automated innovations that still require workers. The spokesman, Nick Merlino, also said that it was Ashe and another port labor leader who first told Meyer over a decade ago about a 'modernized container port that would create thousands of union jobs in the state of Delaware.' Ashe declined to comment on Merlino's statement. Officials from Enstructure, the private operating company at the publicly owned Port of Wilmington, did not respond to a request to comment for this story. READ MORE: Gov. Matt Meyer talks about his first 100 days. What's been done, what's left to do Debates over how or whether to automate, or use unmanned robots, for the Port of Wilmington's operations go back to at least 2018 when Delaware struck a deal with Emirati-based Gulftainer to privatize the facility. At the time, Gulftainer CEO Peter Richards insisted that the Port of Wilmington would need to automate in order to outperform its competitors along the Delaware River, according to a report then from the Delaware Business Times. In response at that time, Ashe publicly rejected automation at the facility, insisting instead that 'everything will be monitored' by a worker. In spring of 2023, Delaware officials ousted Gulftainer from the Port of Wilmington following years of mismanagement and millions of dollars of missed leased payments to the state. Enstructure took over the operations later that summer. It is unclear today how the state's new agreement with Enstructure guides the use of automated technology at the port. Its 50-year lease contract obtained by Spotlight Delaware requires the company only to hire all existing ILA employees at the time they took over the Port of Wilmington from Gulftainer. A two-page section regarding the development of the future Port of Edgemoor is almost entirely redacted. Enstructure's registered lobbyist in Delaware, Patrick Allen, is also a longtime lobbyist for trade unions in the state. In February, Ashe told Spotlight Delaware that Allen is representing his union local, which is part of the International Longshoremen's Association. In March, the International Longshoremen's Association finalized details of a new contract with shipping companies that largely prevents East Coast ports from using unmanned, autonomous off-loading equipment. The new contract, which remains in effect until 2030, followed months of contentious negotiations in 2024 that included a three-day strike. At the May 19 meeting of the Diamond State Port Corp. board, Enstructure officials revealed a construction timeline for the Edgemoor container terminal, saying they could complete the project by December 2028. That timeline is contingent on the state reacquiring a dredging permit that a federal judge invalidated last fall, following a legal challenge filed by competing port terminals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey owned by Holt Logistics. In the federal case, U.S. District Judge Mark Kearney ruled in October that Corps of Engineers officials had acted 'arbitrarily and capriciously' when issuing the approvals to the Port Corporation. Specifically, he said, they dismissed maritime safety concerns posed by ships turning from the Delaware River's shipping lane to the Edgemoor port. Last month, the container port project hit an additional snag after a Delaware judge ruled that a state board's decision to uphold another dredging permit failed 'to reflect a rational consideration of the evidence.' The sharply worded opinion placed additional doubt and uncertainty around the ambitious $635 million port construction project. Plans for the Edgemoor port call for a facility that could handle upwards of 1.2 million containers, or roughly three times the capacity of the existing Port of Wilmington. If successful, it would become one of the 15 largest ports in North America. This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware governor's comments about port automation spark labor rebuke
