UAE, India join forces to deploy 8 exaflop AI supercomputer
This collaboration targets breakthroughs in healthcare, agriculture, and education
NEW DELHI/ABU DHABI – Abu Dhabi will establish a national-scale AI supercomputer in India with 8 exaflops of compute capacity, marking a significant milestone in the country’s AI infrastructure development.
The project was unveiled at the AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi and reflects a growing technology partnership between the UAE and India.
The system will be delivered by Abu Dhabi-based technology group G42 and Cerebras, makers of the world’s fastest AI inference, in collaboration with Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) and India’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). The announcement follows the 5th India-UAE Strategic Dialogue in December 2025 and the UAE President’s visit to India in January 2026, reinforcing cooperation across defence, technology, space, and energy.
Exaflop-scale computing
At 8 exaflops, the supercomputer represents a major leap in India’s peak compute capacity. Hosted within India, it will operate under India-defined governance frameworks, ensuring all data remains within national jurisdiction. The system is designed to meet sovereign security and compliance standards and will serve as a key asset under the India AI Mission.
Democratised access
Once operational, the supercomputer will be accessible to a wide range of users, from premier research institutions to startups, small and medium enterprises, and government ministries. Manu Jain, CEO of G42 India, said, “Sovereign AI infrastructure is becoming essential for national competitiveness. This project enables India to become AI-native while maintaining full data sovereignty and security.”
Richard Morton, Executive Director at MBZUAI, added, “This collaboration expands access to advanced AI compute for researchers and students, enabling breakthroughs in healthcare, agriculture, and education.” Andy Hock, Chief Strategy Officer at Cerebras, noted that the system will accelerate training and inference for large-scale models, supporting AI development tailored to India’s needs.
Building domestic capability
The project builds on G42’s ongoing commitment to domestic AI development. In December 2025, G42 and MBZUAI released the open-source Hindi-English large language model, NANDA 87B, with 87 billion parameters. As one of the world’s fastest-growing digital economies, India will now benefit from enhanced computational infrastructure, strengthening its ability to develop and scale AI securely within national borders.