UAE, US enjoying a ‘powerhouse partnership’, says Sultan Al Jaber

Dr. Sultan Bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Managing Director and Group CEO of ADNOC, and Executive Chairman of XRG, called for energy, technology, finance and policy sectors to work in sync to meet the once-in-a-generation investment opportunity of artificial intelligence (AI).

Delivering a keynote address in Washington DC at the ninth edition of the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum to an audience of policymakers and industry leaders, Dr. Al Jaber described AI as the next stage of human evolution and emphasised that meeting its demands will require an equally transformative shift in energy policy, investment and infrastructure.

“The race for AI supremacy is not just about code-it’s about gigawatts,” he said.

“Every AI breakthrough consumes more power. And right now, global energy systems are not ready.” He noted that the US alone may require 50-150 gigawatts of new capacity by 2030, dependent on the energy source - equivalent to the total consumption of dozens of major cities.

To meet that challenge, Dr. Al Jaber outlined a system-wide roadmap-developed in partnership with XRG, MGX and the Atlantic Council-calling for fast-tracked permitting, modernised grids, and strategic investment in gas, nuclear, and renewables.

“You can’t run tomorrow’s technology on yesterday’s grid,” he said.

“Permitting delays and supply chain bottlenecks are now threats to progress. Policy must help, not hold back.”

Dr Al Jaber highlighted that the size of the opportunity is huge and the key to unlocking it is partnership. He explained that this is why the UAE and the US are enjoying a “powerhouse partnership” across every sector.

“For us, the United States is not just a partner-it’s an investment imperative,” Dr. Al Jaber added.

“US companies are among the UAE’s largest concession partners, active from upstream to downstream. Currently, the UAE energy sector works with US companies across 18 states and 50 facilities, from gas to chemicals to energy infrastructure and energy solutions.”

“XRG is an anchor partner in the largest LNG facility in Texas. We produce specialty chemicals across the country. And our renewable energy company, Masdar, has developed 5.5GW of operational capacity from coast-to-coast. And we are just getting started. To help harness that ambition, we opened a joint XRG/Masdar office right here in Washington DC.”

He highlighted that a single new data centre can consume as much electricity as a city the size of Pittsburgh.

“Meeting this demand is not just a technical challenge - it is a once-in-a-generation investment opportunity. One that requires a system-wide shift, with energy, technology, finance and policy operating in sync,” he said.

Dr. Al Jaber argued that “in the age of hyperscalers, we must hyperscale energy,” calling for reliable baseload sources such as gas and nuclear, backed by renewables, energy storage, and emerging solutions like small modular reactors (SMRs) and fusion. He also advocated for a “pragmatic pause” on early retirements of existing power plants while expanding nuclear capacity.