VivoPower PLC (Nasdaq: VIVO), a B Corp-certified global developer and owner of powered land and data center infrastructure for AI compute applications, has executed definitive heads of agreement with Open Innovation AI, the UAE-based AI orchestration, operations, and security platform company, to jointly explore and develop secure sovereign AI data centers across the Nordics, Mainland Europe, the GCC, and selective countries in Asia.

The agreement was signed at the Sheikh Zayed Museum in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, in the presence of senior leadership from both companies. The companies said the signing in the UAE capital reflects Abu Dhabi's growing role as a global hub for sovereign AI and the ambition of both partners to take that model to new markets.

A 40 GW opportunity in Europe, with at least 1 GW targeted over three years

VivoPower and Open Innovation AI sees an initial sovereign AI opportunity of more than 40 GW in Europe alone, spanning government administration, defence, medical, educational, and financial services sovereign cloud. The partners will target at least 1 GW of capacity over the next three years, with further demand across the GCC and Asia.

According to the companies, demand for AI compute is growing faster than the power, land, and platforms available to host it. Governments and enterprises increasingly want capacity that remains under their control, with sovereignty over infrastructure, data, models, and AI services, supported by strong cybersecurity and governance.

The companies said sovereigns are realising they have limited excess power for their own sovereign cloud needs, let alone to allocate to hyperscalers and AI companies. Governments are moving to secure their own compute, and power has become the prerequisite.

Without secured, scalable power, there can be no sovereign AI, which makes powered land the starting point of every sovereign AI project, the companies said. Governments also need a development partner to deliver the AI infrastructure and a technology and orchestration partner to deliver the sovereign cloud.

Through VivoPower's existing assets, Nordic pipeline, and sovereign relationships, together with Open Innovation AI's track record of orchestrating sovereign cloud solutions, the partnership will seek to become the leading AI sovereign solution for governments in the target jurisdictions.

Divided responsibilities

Under the agreement, VivoPower will lead site sourcing and acquisition, site development, power and facility operations, and bring local market municipality and sovereign relationships. Open Innovation AI will provide the orchestration, AI operations, and security layer, including its Full Stack AI Fabric, which combines orchestration and scheduling, AI and ML operations, agentic workflows, agent harness, and AI security into one platform.

The two companies will work together to originate and deliver AI data center projects with control and security embedded from design to operation.

As a first step, VivoPower has partnered with Open Innovation AI to deploy its software solutions, covering orchestration, AI operations and security, across VivoPower's portfolio and Nordic pipeline.

What sovereign cloud means

The companies define sovereign cloud as AI and cloud infrastructure that a nation and the organizations it trusts can fully control. In a conventional public cloud, data, models, and operations can ultimately be subject to foreign jurisdiction, foreign-controlled operators, or a single vendor's technology. A sovereign cloud, by contrast, keeps every critical layer secure under local law and local control.

The companies outlined four dimensions of sovereignty.

Sovereign infrastructure means the land, power, buildings, and compute are located in-country and owned or controlled by domestic or trusted partners.

Data sovereignty means data is stored and processed within national borders, governed by local law and protected from extraterritorial access.

Operational sovereignty means the platform is run, monitored, and supported by trusted local teams and can operate in private cloud, on-premises, or fully air-gapped environments.

Technology sovereignty means governments and enterprises control the software stack, models, and security without lock-in to any single foreign provider or hardware vendor.

Sovereign AI applies these principles across the full AI lifecycle, from GPU orchestration and model training to the AI applications and agents that power public services, critical national infrastructure, defence, healthcare, finance, and industry.

UAE track record and next steps

Open Innovation AI's role builds on the sovereign AI know-how it has developed in the UAE, one of the world's earliest and most ambitious adopters of sovereign cloud. The company has designed, deployed, and operated AI labs and platforms for government and enterprise environments and clients in the UAE.

The agreement sets out the framework for the collaboration. The parties intend to progress individual projects under separate, project-specific agreements, with definitive documentation to follow in due course.

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