Abu Dhabi’s artificial intelligence powerhouse G42 has unveiled an unprecedented initiative to create one billion AI agents by the conclusion of 2026. Chief Executive Peng Xiao made this groundbreaking announcement during a World Economic Forum panel discussion, revealing the company’s ambitious key performance indicators for the current year.
The proposed AI agents, spanning diverse professional domains from petroleum engineering to cybersecurity analysis, represent a transformative approach to workforce augmentation. Xiao emphasized the staggering infrastructure requirements, projecting that these agents would consume approximately one gigawatt of computational power even operating at just 12-hour daily capacity due to their non-stop operational capabilities.
This announcement coincides with the rapid development of Stargate UAE, a next-generation AI infrastructure cluster being constructed through an international consortium. The $5-gigawatt UAE-US AI Campus in Abu Dhabi represents one of the most significant AI infrastructure projects globally, with construction accelerating at an extraordinary pace. Currently, over 7,000 workers and more than 100 cranes are deployed at the site, building capacity at a rate of approximately 250 megawatts per quarter.
The Stargate project emerged from a strategic partnership announced during former US President Donald Trump’s May 2025 visit to the UAE. This collaboration brings together G42, OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia, SoftBank Group, and Cisco in a unprecedented technological alliance. While the UAE is expected to consume substantial portions of the generated computational resources, the company also plans to export ‘packaged intelligence’ globally in the form of AI tokens.
G42, headquartered in Abu Dhabi with worldwide operations, has established itself as a global AI leader delivering innovative solutions across government, healthcare, energy, finance, and space sectors. The company’s Intelligence Grid initiative aims to provide on-demand intelligence at scale while maintaining stringent security protocols.
The panel discussion featured prominent technology and finance leaders including Sarah Friar, Chief Financial Officer of OpenAI; Michael Intrator, CEO of CoreWeave; and Rob Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer of BlackRock, highlighting the significant industry attention surrounding this development.