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EgyptAi Everything AbuDhabi Coverage:AI infrastructure debates confront the cost of compute and power
2 min
AI compute was framed as strategic infrastructure, tied to power, governance and national ambition.
Speakers weighed data-centre impacts: “water, land, noise” and rising electricity demand.
Panels explored “scale and partnerships” behind large AI projects and national compute foundations.
Quantum and “quantum-inspired” methods were discussed as ways to cut computing costs.
Training sessions covered algorithms, business use cases and quantum logic gates.
Speakers linked national computing capacity to energy efficiency, community consent and emerging quantum techniques.
ABU DHABI, 6 October 2026 — Compute was treated as strategic infrastructure at Ai Everything Abu Dhabi, but the day’s sessions also examined what it takes to power and govern that capacity. The discussions connected national ambition with data-centre scale, supply partnerships, electricity demand and the possibility of doing more with less energy.
Arnaud Castaignet of Skeleton Technologies and Multiverse Computing founder Enrique Lizaso Olmos joined The Economist’s Alok Jha for a conversation on quantum and AI. The discussion centered on whether quantum and quantum-inspired approaches could improve optimization or reduce some computing costs. A separate exchange between Luxembourg National Data Service CEO Bert Verdonck and APCO Worldwide’s Jolyon Kimble turned to the local effects of data centres, including water, land, noise and energy use.
A panel on national compute foundations featured Microsoft’s Amr Kamel, Dell Technologies’ Walid Yehia, Ericsson’s Luis Sergio Cisneros and Euronews editor Jane Witherspoon. The later infrastructure conversations brought H.E. Hussain Al Mahmoudi of Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park and Nucleus AI’s Raakin Iqbal to the deep-technology question. Faisal Al Hawi of the Department of Government Enablement – Abu Dhabi, Khazna Data Centers’ Greg Jasmin, BCG’s Faisal Hamady and AMD’s Philip Guido explored the scale and partnerships behind large AI projects, with Bloomberg’s Mackenzie Hawkins.
The final compute panel paired Gaia-X CEO Ulrich Ahle with Masdar’s Dr. Ibraheem Almansouri and Witherspoon around a direct engineering challenge: increasing useful intelligence while reducing energy intensity. Alongside the discussions, RAQS Quantum CEO Raghunath Koduvayur and Prof. Dario Poletti of Singapore University of Technology and Design led training on quantum and quantum-inspired algorithms, business use cases and quantum logic gates.
