A day after his inauguration as U.S. president, Donald Trump unveiled a $100 billion venture to finance artificial intelligence infrastructure, backed by three of the biggest names in tech: OpenAI, SoftBank Group Corp. and Oracle Corp. Then there was the Abu Dhabi firm: MGX, reported by Bloomberg.
The Emirates’ investment vehicle is controlled by one of the world’s most powerful businessmen, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is the national security adviser to the United Arab Emirates. He is the brother of the country’s president and the man who presides over a $1.5 trillion empire that encompasses everything from investment funds to the region’s leading AI firm, G42.
MGX Becomes Key Tool for UAE AI Dominance
Created in March with Mubadala Investment Co. and G42 as founding partners and aiming to eventually surpass $100 billion in assets, MGX has become a key tool in the country’s quest for AI dominance. It plans to contribute about $7 billion to Trump’s plan, known as Stargate. The firm has backed OpenAI and has also teamed up with BlackRock Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in a $30 billion plan to build data storage and energy infrastructure. It has poured money into Elon Musk’s xAI and was among the investors in Databricks Inc., one of the world’s most valuable private technology companies.
It combines the $330 billion financial clout of Mubadala, itself a major force in the tech investment world, with the AI arsenal of G42, a firm that has raised funding from Microsoft and signed deals with Nvidia Corp. and OpenAI. The fund has hired Mubadala employees, according to reports on LinkedIn, and its CEO, Ahmed Yahya Al Idrissi, previously headed the private equity arm of the sovereign wealth fund.
Abu Dhabi with over $1 trillion in sovereign wealth funds
MGX recently hired the head of Swedish investment firm EQT AB’s Motherbrain as its chief artificial intelligence architect and brought in a McKinsey & Co. veteran to scout for semiconductor deals. The moves come as Abu Dhabi, which holds 6% of the world’s crude oil reserves, seeks to diversify its economy away from oil. While investments in sectors such as healthcare and finance have been key elements of that strategy, artificial intelligence is increasingly taking center stage.
As one of the few cities in the world with a sovereign wealth fund of more than $1 trillion, the emirate has an advantage in a sector that needs wealthy investors, and artificial intelligence was a focus of attention during UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s visit to the United States in September. He was accompanied by Sheikh Tahnoun, whose posts on the social media platform X have since hinted at Abu Dhabi’s ambitions — and scale. Since September, he has met with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Alphabet Inc. President Ruth Porath, and Musk. In those conversations, as well as with global finance heavyweights like BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, AI seems to have been a dominant theme.