Yesterday’s agreement between the Kopelouzos Group and two of Abu Dhabi’s biggest technology groups marks another “Greek-Emirati” deal aimed at the joint development of data centres.
According to information available, the Greek group has signed a memorandum of understanding with Khazna Data Centers and the G42 group to jointly develop a large data centre, possibly in Attica, which is expected to be built in phases and have scope for expansion.
Although details have not been made public, the plan is for a second section to be added to the initial one at a later stage, followed by a third, allowing its total capacity to grow beyond that of the first development phase.
The agreement was signed at the 4th Greece-UAE Strategic Business Forum, held in Athens to strengthen bilateral economic ties and investment opportunities. Its agenda ranged from food security and supply-chain resilience to prospects in AI and digital infrastructure.
The high-level forum was attended by the Prime Minister and Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. Ministers (H. Theoharis, Ad. Georgiadis), senior institutional representatives and executives from Emirati and Greek companies also took part.
In practice, the move bolsters the Kopelouzos Group’s expansion into the Arab world, following the ties it has also built in Egypt, by joining forces with two groups with years of experience in data centres, data processing, cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
This is the second move by Greek and Emirati companies in the sector, following PPC’s agreement with Damac two years ago to develop a data centre in Spata, with an initial budget of €150 million.
Who’s who among the Emirati players
G42, which holds a controlling stake in Khazna, is one of Abu Dhabi’s biggest technology groups, with a presence in cloud computing and AI and significant investments in digital infrastructure.
One example is the $1.5 billion investment it announced with Microsoft in 2024. Microsoft president Brad Smith sits on G42’s board.
Khazna, which operates about 30 medium- and large-scale data centres in the United Arab Emirates, is driving the development of Stargate UAE, an AI infrastructure complex with a planned capacity of 1 GW in Abu Dhabi.
It is part of the broader 5 GW AI Campus being developed jointly by the US and the Emirates, with the participation of leading US technology groups such as OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco and SoftBank.
In other words, this is not a standalone data centre but a vast data-centre complex, with numerous facilities, networks and, of course, very substantial electricity requirements.
It was announced on 22 May 2025 and is the first international deployment of OpenAI’s Stargate programme. The aim is to create computing capacity on a massive scale, enabling advanced AI models to be trained and run, with the initial phase covering 200 MW and development proceeding gradually.