du and Open Innovation AI Partner to Advance UAE Sovereign Agentic AI Ecosystem

du,  a leading UAE telecom and digital services provider, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Open Innovation AI , a UAE-based AI infrastructure and workload orchestration provider. Orchestrated in collaboration with the UAE Cyber Security Council (CSC), the partnership will accelerate the adoption of Agentic AI workforce across government entities and enterprises. This initiative will strengthen the UAE’s sovereign AI ecosystem through du’s sub-brand du Tech, in alignment with national security and digital priorities.

The MoU was signed during the Digital Readiness Retreat 2026 in Dubai, a premier national forum for digital transformation. Jasim Al Awadi, Chief ICT Officer at du and Dr Abed Benaichouche, Co-Founder & CEO of Open Innovation AI executed the agreement in the presence of His Excellency Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of the UAE Cyber Security Council. This high-level endorsement underscores the convergence of AI capabilities and national security. The partnership leverages du Tech’s National Hypercloud platform, which recently received formal CSC certification, ensuring locally governed capabilities to power the nation’s AI-driven economy.

“Sovereign AI is a critical national security priority. Following our recent certification of du Tech’s National Hypercloud, this homegrown collaboration represents the secure in-country AI infrastructure orchestration the UAE requires to protect its data and digital future. The UAE Cyber Security Council remains committed to fostering an environment where AI is securely governed within UAE jurisdiction, and this initiative is a meaningful step toward elevating national AI innovation.”

– Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head, UAE Cyber Security Council

The partnership brings together du’s advanced digital infrastructure and cloud capabilities with Open Innovation AI’s expertise in AI infrastructure orchestration, GPU resource management, and AI security. By integrating du Tech’s National Hypercloud with Open Innovations AI fabric, the collaboration will enable public and private organizations to deploy and scale autonomous Agentic AI workloads with unprecedented speed, efficiency, and strict regulatory compliance.

Under the MoU, both parties will explore several areas of collaboration, including technical integration between du Tech’s National Hypercloud and Open Innovation AI’s platform to action GPU orchestration, along with resource management capabilities, sovereign AI platform development, commercial deployment opportunities, and joint go-to-market initiatives.

“True digital sovereignty requires an infrastructure capable of powering tomorrow’s cognitive workloads today. By merging du Tech’s CSC-certified National Hypercloud with Open Innovation AI’s orchestration platform, we are delivering the foundational compute engine required for secure, in-country Agentic AI deployment. We are building the secure, compliant, and high-performance backbone that will allow UAE government entities and enterprises to deploy autonomous AI workforces with absolute confidence.”

– Jasim Al Awadi, Chief ICT Officer, du

As part of this collaboration, both parties will assess opportunities to establish sovereign AI and GPU orchestration capabilities on du Tech’s National Hypercloud infrastructure, enabling secure access to AI compute resources while supporting innovation across public and private sector ecosystems. The initiative is expected to contribute to the development and deployment of AI solutions and agentic AI agents that meet the UAE’s growing demand for trusted and locally governed AI services, with security and data sovereignty embedded at the infrastructure level in alignment with the UAE Cyber Security Council’s national framework.

“This MoU with du marks a meaningful step toward building the foundations of sovereign AI in the UAE. By bringing Open Innovation’s Sovereign AI Fabric together with du Tech’s National Hypercloud, we aim to give government entities and enterprises secure, in-country access to the compute that AI workloads demand, while keeping data, models, and infrastructure firmly within UAE jurisdiction. We are proud to work alongside du and the UAE Cyber Security Council to accelerate this national ambition.”

– Dr. Abed Benaichouche, Co-Founder & CEO, Open Innovation AI

The agreement is expanding du’s growing AI partner ecosystem, reinforcing its position as a primary sovereign infrastructure enabler under its sub-brand du Tech with cybersecurity governance embedded at the core.