Today's Edition
By Sultan Khalifa Abdulla Ali AlRubaei*
The UAE is ambitiously and successfully moving towards its goal of becoming one of the top investment destinations in the field of AI, chips and semiconductors, and a leading model of invention in the technology sector to build a more diversified and sustainable future both locally and internationally. This is being accomplished through its national institutions and partnerships with major advanced technology and AI developers in the world.
In the context of the ambitious vision, Mubadala Investment Co., one of Abu Dhabi's sovereign funds, contributed nearly 20% of the approximately $136.1 billion spent by sovereign funds worldwide in 2024. Mubadala has invested $29.2 billion in 2024, up from $17.5 billion in 2023, according to the Global SWF data platform. Sovereign investments in global digital transformation have reached $27.7 billion in 2024.
Abu Dhabi competes for AI leadership both regionally and globally. These efforts are led by government-backed G42, and MGX, a company that was established in partnership with Mubadala. The UAE bets on AI and has taken pioneering steps in sponsoring this field, including the adoption of an AI strategy, the first of its kind globally, as well as appointing a minister of state for AI and the digital economy at an early stage.
The UAE's ambitious vision is based on transforming the country into a global AI hub by 2030. The UAE has diverse objectives in fostering advanced technology, including achieving economic development, diversifying income sources and incentivising innovation and economic competition. To this end, the country seeks to foster research and development in AI and chips and attracts investment in this sector by creating a conducive environment for innovation and development. To achieve those targets, Mubadala strives, through the G42 group, which specialises in AI and cloud computing, to accelerate the development and adoption of AI and advanced technology through forging partnerships in the UAE and worldwide to leverage AI potential to serve the economy, government services and healthcare.
Mubadala invests in innovation-based startups and collaborates with the French government to develop AI and semiconductors. It also partners with the London-based WNDR Group in cloud services and AI. The US giant Microsoft has invested $1.5 billion in the AI company G42, which, together with Mubadala, has established Space42, a pioneer in space technology, Bayanat, a pioneer in AI-powered geospatial data, and M42, a pioneer in healthcare technology and life sciences, in addition to investments in US and Chinese markets as well as dozens of countries around the world.
The future promises a lot in the field of AI, with this sector likely to account for $95.8 billion of the UAE's GDP in 2030, equivalent to 14%, even as it will account for nearly $15.7 trillion of the global economy in 2030. Therefore, the UAE is taking pioneering steps, with Mubadala being the strongest arm in this field, having achieved regional leadership in digital transformation and the delivery of Arab AI models and developing government performance, which created investment opportunities with growing weight in the global AI systems.
The GCC sovereign funds are competing to invest around the world in numerous fields. Indeed, 2024 has seen a record of $82 billion invested in AI, although Mubadala takes the lead, being ahead of all sovereign funds in the region and globally, amidst accelerating competition between ambitious countries capable of achieving digital transformation, setting up data hubs and digital infrastructure and investing in the field of space around the world.
*The writer is a researcher at TRENDS Research & Advisory
