Musk tried to block OpenAI's UAE data center deal: Report

HAMILTON, Canada

US tech billionaire Elon Musk tried to block a major deal to build one of the world’s largest artificial intelligence (AI) data centers in the United Arab Emirates because his company was not part of it, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The deal, led by OpenAI and other US tech companies, involved a data center project in the capital, Abu Dhabi.

According to the report, Musk told UAE officials that US President Donald Trump would not approve the deal unless his own company, xAI, was included.

Citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, the report said that Musk became upset after learning that OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman was involved in the project and would join Trump on his Middle East tour in May. Musk then joined the trip and raised his complaints directly.

Upon reviewing the deal, Trump's team decided to go ahead with it. A White House official said Musk was concerned about fairness and wanted equal opportunities for all AI companies.

OpenAI announced the deal on May 22, describing it as "the first international deployment of Stargate⁠, OpenAI’s AI infrastructure platform."

"The agreement -- which includes our partners G42, Oracle, NVIDIA, Cisco and SoftBank -- was developed in close coordination with the US government, and we greatly appreciate President Trump for his support in making it possible," a statement by OpenAI said.

Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015, but Musk left in 2018 and has since criticized Altman and OpenAI.

His company xAI is now one of the US firms allowed to buy chips under the new agreement, the report said.