Agreement signed at Sheikh Zayed Museum in Abu Dhabi pairs VivoPower’s powered land and data center infrastructure capabilities with Open Innovation AI’s sovereign AI orchestration and security platform.

     The partners see a sovereign AI opportunity of more than 40GW in Europe alone, across government administration, defense, medical, educational and financial services sovereign cloud and will target at least 1GW of capacity over the next three years, with further demand across the GCC and Asia.

     VivoPower to lead site development, power procurement and facility operations; Open Innovation AI to provide the orchestration, AI operations and security layer.

     Builds on Open Innovation AI’s track record, experience designing, deploying and operating sovereign AI platforms for government and enterprise environments and clients in the UAE.

LONDON, UK / ABU DHABI, UAE, Oct. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VivoPower PLC (Nasdaq: VIVO) (“VivoPower” or the “Company”), a leading B Corp-certified global developer and owner of powered land and data center infrastructure for AI compute applications, today announced that it has executed definitive heads of agreement (“Agreement”) with Open Innovation AI (“OI”), 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 Sheikh Zayed Museum in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, in the presence of senior leadership from both companies. 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.

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 cyber security and governance. The collaboration combines VivoPower's expertise in securing power and developing data center infrastructure with Open Innovation AI's orchestration, AI operations and security capabilities.

Under the Agreement, the two companies will work together to originate and deliver AI data center projects with control and security embedded from design to operation. Open Innovation AI brings its Full Stack AI Fabric, combining orchestration and scheduling, AI and ML operations, agentic workflows, agent harness and AI security into one platform. VivoPower brings site sourcing and acquisition, site development, power and facility operations, and local market municipality and sovereign relationships.

What sovereign cloud means

Sovereign cloud is 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 keeps every critical layer secure under local law and local control:

• Sovereign infrastructure: the land, power, buildings and compute are located in-country and owned or controlled by domestic or trusted partners.
• Data sovereignty: data is stored and processed within national borders, governed by local law and protected from extraterritorial access.
• Operational sovereignty: 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: 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, defense, healthcare, finance and industry.

A large and growing opportunity

Demand for sovereign AI capacity is accelerating rapidly at a time when sovereigns are realizing 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. In addition, governments need development partners to deliver the AI infrastructure and they need a technology and orchestration partner to deliver the sovereign cloud. Against this backdrop, VivoPower and Open Innovation AI see an initial opportunity of more than 40GW in Europe alone and will target at least 1GW of capacity over the next three years, with further demand across the GCC and Asia. Through VivoPower’s existing assets, Nordic pipeline and sovereign relationships, together with OI’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.

What the agreement covers

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.

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.

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 where local control, security and operational governance are critical. That experience gives the partnership a practical foundation to support projects across the targeted jurisdictions.

A natural fit of ambitions

The partnership is also a natural fit of ambitions. VivoPower is pursuing large-scale growth as a global developer of AI-ready power and data center infrastructure for sovereigns. Open Innovation AI is expanding its orchestration and security platform well beyond the UAE into international markets. Together, the companies intend to combine powered infrastructure with the software layer required to run AI safely, efficiently and under full sovereign control.

The aim is simple: give nations and enterprises a faster path from powered land to production-ready AI capacity that remains secure, governed and locally controlled. This in turn will drive sovereign prosperity and national security.

Why the partnership is positioned to win

Today, most governments building sovereign AI capacity must bring together power developers, builders, hardware suppliers, cloud providers and software vendors themselves, and often still depend on foreign hyperscalers for the critical software layer. The US CLOUD Act means European sovereigns in particular need a neutral solution and those developed in Abu Dhabi are some of the most advanced in the world. VivoPower and Open Innovation AI offer a different model:

• One partner from site to service: a single, integrated offering that covers powered land, data center development and operations, and the orchestration, AI operations and security platform, with clear accountability from day one.
• Power where it is scarcest: access to power is now the main constraint on new AI capacity. VivoPower brings powered land and data center infrastructure across Norway, Finland and the UAE, and a pipeline of sites with access to low-cost power.
• A proven sovereign platform: Open Innovation AI has designed, deployed and operated its platform for government critical infrastructure and enterprise environments in the UAE, where local control, security and governance are essential.
• Independent and hardware-agnostic: the Sovereign AI Fabric runs across private cloud, on-premises and air-gapped environments and is not tied to any single hardware vendor or hyperscaler, so nations keep control of their technology choices.
• Faster time to production: pairing ready sites with a pre-integrated software stack shortens the path from energized site to production-ready AI capacity.
• Security by design: cyber security and governance are embedded from facility design through to the AI models and agents running on the platform.

A partnership across four regions

VivoPower and Open Innovation AI will focus on four regions where demand for sovereign AI capacity is accelerating:

• The Nordics: building on VivoPower’s existing asset in Mo i Rana, Norway and its proprietary pipeline across the Nordics.
• The GCC: building on Open Innovation AI's home base in the UAE and VivoPower's regional presence in Abu Dhabi to support national AI strategies across the Gulf and wider region.
• Mainland Europe: helping European governments and industry meet growing requirements for AI capacity, cyber security, data sovereignty and operational control under European governance.
• Selective Asian Countries: serving fast-growing markets investing in domestic AI capability, cyber-resilient infrastructure and strategic digital independence, in jurisdictions that are supportive of AI infrastructure development and where VivoPower has a sourcing advantage through low-cost power.

Alex Cuppage, Chief Investment Officer of VivoPower PLC, said: “VivoPower is committed to working with nations as their most trusted long-term and aligned AI infrastructure partner to deliver leading sovereign AI infrastructure. We believe that sovereigns who develop leading AI infrastructure, supported by a secure and full stack sovereign cloud solution will drive national prosperity and security. In most cases, allocations of a nation’s natural resources of power and water to sovereign cloud represents the highest and best use. The UAE is globally seen as one of the most advanced nations utilizing sovereign compute. We are delighted to establish this partnership with Open Innovation AI, a proven sovereign AI orchestration and security platform, offering governments and enterprises a complete path from site to secure AI service. Signing this agreement in Abu Dhabi, at the heart of the region’s AI ambition, is a fitting start. We are excited to work together with sovereigns across the Nordics, Mainland Europe, the GCC and Asia to help develop their compute power infrastructure, which will equate to national prosperity and national security.”

Kevin Chin, Executive Chairman and CEO, VivoPower PLC, said: "Sovereign AI needs more than power and buildings. It needs a trusted, secure platform to run on. Our partnership with Open Innovation AI lets VivoPower offer sovereigns a complete solution, from powered land to production-ready AI. It is an important step in building VivoPower into a leading independent sovereign AI infrastructure partner, and in creating long-term value for our shareholders across our existing portfolio and near-term pipeline."

Dr. Abed Benaichouche, Co-Founder and CEO of Open Innovation AI, said: “Sovereign AI is not only about compute capacity; it is about securing and controlling the technology layer that allows governments and enterprises to run AI safely, locally and at scale. VivoPower shares our belief that every nation should control its own intelligence. Together, we can bring secure AI Data Centers online faster across the Nordics, Mainland Europe, the GCC and Asia, and take the UAE’s AI expertise to new markets.”

About VivoPower

Originally founded in 2014 and listed on Nasdaq since 2016, VivoPower is an award-winning B Corporation with data center and powered land infrastructure across Norway, Finland, and the United Arab Emirates. The Company’s mission is to be the independent, trusted partner for sovereign nations that develop and operate sustainable data center infrastructure, ensuring sovereign control over power, data, and national intelligence. In doing so, VivoPower helps sovereign nations bridge the gap between their energy assets and their AI ambitions by providing the Power-to-X infrastructure necessary to build and control their own domestic intelligence hubs.

About Open Innovation AI

Open Innovation AI is a UAE-based technology company helping enterprises adopt AI through its Sovereign AI Fabric, a hardware-agnostic platform for building, deploying, and operating AI. Runtime Fabric provides a production-ready Kubernetes foundation purpose-built for AI environments. Engine Fabric orchestrates GPUs and manages AI workloads from development through deployment. Agent Fabric helps organizations build and operate agentic applications. Security Fabric tests, governs, monitors, and secures AI models, agents, and applications. Designed for private cloud, on-premises, and air-gapped environments, the platform gives organizations control over their infrastructure, data, models, and AI operations.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication includes certain statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" for purposes of the U.S. federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements that refer to projections, forecasts, or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions. The words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intends," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "would" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements may include, for example, statements about the collaboration between VivoPower and Open Innovation AI, the deployment of Open Innovation AI’s software solutions across VivoPower’s portfolio and Nordic pipeline, including the Mo i Rana site, the negotiation and execution of definitive or project-specific agreements, the origination, development and delivery of AI data center projects in the Nordics, Mainland Europe, the GCC and Asia, the expected benefits of the collaboration, the size of the sovereign AI opportunity and of the parties’ potential project pipeline, demand for sovereign AI capacity, or the benefits of the events or transactions described in this communication. These statements are based on VivoPower's management's current expectations or beliefs and are subject to risk, uncertainty, and changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied by the statements herein due to changes in economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory factors, and other risks and uncertainties affecting the operation of VivoPower's business. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies include changes in business conditions, fluctuations in customer demand, changes in accounting interpretations, management of rapid growth, intensity of competition from other providers of products and services, changes in general economic conditions, geopolitical events and regulatory changes, and other factors set forth in VivoPower's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Specifically in relation to the Heads of Agreement, the Heads of Agreement do not by themselves commit either party to any specific project, and there can be no assurance that project-specific agreements will be entered into, or that any project will proceed on the terms contemplated, on the anticipated timing, or at all. The development of any project is subject to, among other things, the availability of suitable sites, power and financing, customer and government demand, and regulatory and other approvals, the timing of which is outside the control of the Company. The information set forth herein should be read in light of such risks. VivoPower is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise.

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