ADNOC, Masdar, XRG and Microsoft link energy and data centers with AI

A new alliance between ADNOC, Masdar, XRG and Microsoft signals how energy producers and cloud giants are converging to scale AI deployment across operations and data centers. Announced at the ENACT Majlis in Abu Dhabi ahead of ADIPEC, the collaboration doubles down on an existing Microsoft and ADNOC relationship and widens it to include clean-energy specialist Masdar and XRG. The focus is to accelerate artificial intelligence throughout ADNOC’s value chain while supplying power solutions for Microsoft’s global expansion.

The companies plan to co-develop and roll out AI agents designed to move industrial sites toward more autonomous operations, improve efficiency and curb emissions. Microsoft will contribute advanced tools and training, and both sides are exploring a joint innovation ecosystem that could incubate sector-specific solutions. If successful, the model could become a repeatable framework for AI deployment in heavy industry.

Strategic messaging underscored the dual aim of embedding software and rewiring energy supply for the compute era, with AI deployment framed as both an operational upgrade and a power challenge. “As AI continues to reshape how value is created and enhanced across industries, ADNOC, Masdar and XRG are not only embedding AI into every layer of our operations, we are also advancing the energy systems that will power AI itself,” said Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, ADNOC MD and group CEO, executive chairman of XRG and chairman of Masdar. He added, “Through our partnership with Microsoft, we are unlocking new opportunities to fuel the future of AI, drive greater performance, and future-proof our business.”

ADNOC’s recent track record gives it a running start. In November 2023 it became the first energy company to adopt generative AI enterprise-wide using Microsoft Copilot, followed by training for more than 40,000 employees, utilisation above 90 percent and productivity gains exceeding 70,000 hours each month. Those internal outcomes frame the partnership as a scale-up of proven AI deployment rather than a pilot.

Microsoft positioned the effort as a coalition play suited to the scale of the data center era, a stance that aligns with broader government and industry coordination on infrastructure. “No single company or industry can meet this moment alone,” said Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft. “Accelerating the transition to a more sustainable, secure, and inclusive energy future requires deep collaboration between governments, energy providers, technology companies, and innovators everywhere,” he said, outlining the governance dimension of AI deployment.

With Abu Dhabi seeking to cement its role as a global energy innovation hub, the agreement blends ADNOC’s industrial base, Microsoft’s digital stack, and the clean-energy expertise of Masdar and XRG into a single pipeline from project design to operations, and it is reinforced by their 2025 Powering Possible report that gathers views from more than 850 experts on the sector’s transformation. At a market level, pairing clean power with hyperscale compute points to a new pattern in capital allocation where infrastructure commitments and software roadmaps are negotiated together. If that approach holds, it will shape AI deployment strategies from the Gulf to global cloud regions.