OpenAI’s CEO will visit Abu Dhabi to discuss Stargate fundraising

According to two sources familiar with the situation, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman planned to travel to the UAE this week to discuss funding with Abu Dhabi investment group MGX.

Altman’s visit to Abu Dhabi comes as the ChatGPT maker aims to finance approximately $40 billion to accelerate development of its model and massive Stargate infrastructure plan, at a time when US artificial intelligence businesses face a new challenge from cheaper Chinese alternative DeepSeek.

MGX invested in OpenAI’s most recent $6.6 billion fundraising round, which ended in October. With a rising footprint in the US artificial intelligence sector, it invests in businesses like xAI and Databricks.

The negotiations with Abu Dhabi’s MGX will follow Altman’s quick tour of Asia, which included the announcement of a cooperation with Japan’s SoftBank for artificial intelligence services on Monday.

The United Arab Emirates, a rich oil producer and long-time security partner of the US, is in a race to become an AI leader amid growing competition from neighbors Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

SoftBank is in talks to lead a funding round of up to $40 billion in OpenAI at a valuation of $300 billion, including new funding, in what could be a record single funding round for a private company.

U.S. President Donald Trump last month unveiled a joint venture called Stargate involving three major equity investors, OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle, with MGX also participating.