Cities around the world are building new infrastructure to support artificial intelligence technology that will help make cities smarter and more efficient. This weekly update looks at the biggest projects in infrastructure and city planning that involve AI technology.

The most important AI infrastructure project happening right now is the Stargate AI Infrastructure Project in the United States. This enormous project has a budget of $500 billion and is the most actively funded megaproject in 2026. Think of Stargate like a giant power plant and computer center combined—it will store and process the massive amounts of data that artificial intelligence systems need to work. With such a huge investment, the United States is showing the world how serious it is about becoming a leader in AI technology.

In the Middle East, the country of Saudi Arabia is changing its plans for a huge development called NEOM. Originally, NEOM was supposed to be a brand new city with futuristic buildings and technology. Now, NEOM is focusing more on building AI data centers—which are like the brains and nervous systems of AI technology. The project announced a major $5 billion partnership in February 2026 to help build this AI infrastructure. Data centers hold all the computers and servers that keep artificial intelligence systems running.

Another massive data center project is happening in the United States too. A company called Fermi America is building something called Project Matador (which some people call the Trump Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus). This data center is designed to be the world's largest and will eventually have up to 17 gigawatts of power capacity—that's enough electricity to power millions of homes. However, according to satellite pictures, this project has fallen at least one year behind schedule.

City leaders and planners from across the United States gathered at the Tomorrow.City USA conference on April 14-15, 2026, in West Palm Beach, Florida. This conference brought together mayors, government officials, and business leaders to discuss how to build smarter cities using new technology. The conference had five different themes, and one of them was specifically about artificial intelligence. This shows that cities everywhere understand that AI will be an important part of urban planning in the future.