The project of UAE-US AI CAMPUSled by the Emirati technological group G42is not limited to attracting American hyperscalrs, the company intends to transform its calculation infrastructure into an unprecedented diplomatic instrument by offering “Digital embassies”to foreign governments to host and secure their critical data to the United Arab Emirates.
The concept takes up the idea initiated by Estonia in 2017, when it opened an extraterritorial copy of its public registers in Luxembourg, designed to ensure the continuity of the State in the event of a cyber or military attack. G42 wants to industrialize this logic, by offering third countries a sacred accommodation of their data.
The argument is based on three promises, starting with resilience in the face of natural disasters or cyber attacks, reduction in energy and land costs compared to Europe or Asia, and diplomatic guarantee with a status comparable to extraterritoriality.
There remains the question of legal regime and there several options are possible to give legal status to the digital embassies. The most ambitious but long term, would be to develop an international convention under the aegis of the UN, inspired by the Vienna Convention. At the shorter term, the bilateral way seems more realistic, like the agreement signed in 2017 between Estonia and Luxembourg. Regional solutions could also emerge, such as a European executive or from the Gulf Cooperation Council, but they would be faced with the diversity of existing regulations. Finally, in the absence of diplomatic recognition, the Emirates could rely on a hybrid contractual regime (certifications, audits, international arbitration) which would offer technical guarantees but without sovereignty value.
She also questions the role of the United States, key technological partners of the project via NVIDIA, AMD or Google, and the real scope of immunity that would be granted to these “embassies”.
Beyond the commercial issue for G42, by proposing to accommodate the digital sovereignty of other nations, the Emirates seek to position themselves as a Trusted Hub In data geopolitics, faced with a competing Saudi Arabia which already combines investments in infrastructure and rapprochement with Chinese actors like Lenovo. A new diplomacy that starts with a complex trade war.
