Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tesla, has reportedly intervened in the data center construction contract between OpenAI and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), pressuring that it may be difficult to gain U.S. government approval unless his artificial intelligence (AI) corporation xAI is included.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 28th (local time) that Musk directly conveyed his stance during a call with officials from G42, the UAE partner.
OpenAI announced that on the 22nd, it signed a contract with G42 to construct a data center cluster in Abu Dhabi with a capacity of 5GW. G42 is an AI corporation supported by the UAE sovereign wealth funds. Through this contract, OpenAI is set to expand its global infrastructure project, "Stargate," for the first time overseas.
The project, when completed, will cover an area of approximately 26 square kilometers, with an energy demand equivalent to that of five nuclear power plants, capturing the attention of the global AI industry. WSJ reported that despite Musk's intervention, the contract proceeded as planned.
Musk was reportedly upset after learning that Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, was accompanying U.S. President Donald Trump on his Middle East trip, and that a major transaction with the UAE was underway. He subsequently requested to be included in the delegation and actually joined.
According to reports, in response to Musk's complaints, President Trump and his aides reviewed the contract terms but ultimately decided to approve the contract. White House officials stated that Musk did not want a contract favorable to Altman, and it was also reported that aides discussed ways to calm Musk. President Trump and David Sachs, White House AI and cryptocurrency policy chief, were said to want to formalize this contract before the end of the Middle East trip.
A senior White House official reported that Musk raised concerns about the "fairness" of the transaction.
Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with Sam Altman and others but left the company due to management conflicts and has continued to criticize OpenAI since then. He founded the competing company xAI as attention to ChatGPT grew, and was even considered a strong candidate for the Abu Dhabi data center project, according to WSJ.