UAE
Core42 strikes a deal with Northern Data to access 10,000 GPUs
UAE-based AI company G42, through its infrastructure arm Core42, has entered into a deal with Northern Data’s Taiga Cloud to access up to 10,000 GPUs, thereby enhancing its sovereign AI infrastructure capabilities. Enabled by Taiga’s recent tech upgrade with Gcore, the partnership aims to deliver next-gen, high-performance AI infrastructure to meet soaring compute demand. Core42 is pursuing similar large-scale projects worldwide, including a 400MW AI campus in France with DataOne, a 70MW deployment in New York with Terrawolf, and a strategic agreement with Microsoft in the UAE. This follows the announcement that Northern Data Group was recently approached by Rumble with a $ 1.2Bn acquisition offer…Read more
Zero Two joins Warburg Pincus in Evolution Data Centres Investment
Abu Dhabi-based digital infrastructure company Zero Two has acquired a co-ownership stake in Southeast Asia-focused Evolution Data Centres, partnering with PE firm Warburg Pincus to accelerate the rollout of hyperscale-ready, sustainable facilities across the region. The investment, Zero Two’s first in Southeast Asia since its 2022 launch, will support projects in Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam, all powered by renewable energy. Evolution’s current developments include 69MW in the Philippines and 52MW in Thailand. Backed by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ, Zero Two’s move reflects a wider trend of UAE-based technology and infrastructure players investing beyond the Emirates and the GCC. Recent examples include AI company G42’s Core42 unit and Khazna subsidiary developing AI infrastructure in France, Italy, and the US. Together, these deals underline the UAE’s ambitions to shape global digital infrastructure in response to surging AI and cloud demand…Read more
Middle East
Tapering off: Middle East data centre spending spree slows
Middle East data centre investment is forecast to cool in 2026 after an unprecedented AI-fuelled build-out, with Gartner projecting spending growth to slow from 69% in 2025 to 39% the following year. Analysts say the initial rush to deploy AI-ready infrastructure is giving way to more measured, long-term expansion, as these facilities require massive up-front costs, particularly for high-end processors like Nvidia’s $30,000 – $40,000 AI chips, before spending tapers off. Yet total investment will still climb from $9.5Bn in 2025 to $13Bn in 2026, underpinned by mega-projects such as Abu Dhabi’s 1GW Stargate supercomputing cluster with OpenAI, Saudi Arabia’s Humain scaling to 500MW with AWS, and Kuwait’s 1GW partnership with Omniva. Such facilities are not only central to AI model training and deployment but also hugely energy-intensive. Stargate alone could power 876,000 homes for a year, reflecting the scale of the region’s ambition even as growth rates normalise…Read more
The Gulf’s $100Bn AI gamble
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s early 2025 visit to Abu Dhabi underscored the Gulf’s growing influence in global AI investment. He met with MGX, a new fund backed by G42 and Mubadala, which, alongside BlackRock and Microsoft, launched the $100Bn Global AI Infrastructure Partnership, focused largely on US projects. MGX is also joining the US government’s $500Bn Stargate AI infrastructure initiative. The move reflects how Gulf sovereign wealth funds, including Abu Dhabi’s ADQ and ADIA, Saudi Arabia’s PIF, and Qatar’s QIA, have vaulted into the heart of global AI financing, driven by economic diversification goals such as the UAE’s aim for AI to contribute 40% to GDP by 2031. Recent deals range from PIF’s partnership with Google on a major data centre to QIA’s stakes in generative AI startups. This aggressive push leverages low-cost energy and domestic infrastructure to secure technology, protect data sovereignty, and build a post-oil economy, but carries high risks amid rapid AI innovation, volatile valuations, and geopolitical tensions between the US and China. The Gulf’s AI gamble is high stakes, but its ambition is reshaping the global tech investment map…Read more