Here’s your weekly spin around the Middle East and its global orbit. From market moves and power plays to deals, and surprises that set the news agenda, this wrap captures the stories around the region, and the ripple effects.
📌 Gulf Wealth Goes All-In on AI
Sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East are climbing the global AI leaderboard, pouring billions into the companies shaping tomorrow’s intelligence economy.
Big Bet on Anthropic: Abu Dhabi-backed MGX and Qatar Investment Authority jumped into the massive $30 billion funding round for Anthropic, valuing the Claude chatbot maker at $380 billion. That comes on top of their investments in OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI.
Robots & Data, Too: QIA isn’t stopping at chatbots. Last week it also joined:
- A $520 million raise for Apptronik, developer of humanoid robot Apollo
- A $5 billion round for Databricks, valuing the data platform at $134 billion
Infrastructure Play: Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi’s G42 is leading a consortium committing up to $1 billion to build AI data centres and cloud infrastructure in Vietnam.
Why This Matters:
The Gulf’s oil wealth is rapidly transforming into algorithmic power. From humanoid robots to hyperscale data centres, sovereign investors are positioning themselves at the core of the AI value chain: not just as financiers, but as long-term strategic players.
The global AI race isn’t just Silicon Valley vs. Beijing anymore. It’s becoming Silicon Valley, Beijing… and the Gulf.
📌 Big Money, Bigger Ambitions
Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Co. is launching Judan Financial Holding, an AI-enabled platform that’s expected to oversee $237 billion in assets.
Judan will consolidate financial holdings from Alpha Dhabi Holding, 2PointZero Group and Sirius International Holding, spanning banking, insurance, asset management and fintech. The entity is targeting a valuation of about 100 billion dirhams.
Why This Matters:
Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investment landscape is being reshaped through a wave of consolidation. Last month, newly established L’Imad Holding assumed control of ADQ. Mohamed Al Suwaidi, who was ADQ’s chief executive and now in a new role at Lunate, is set to lead Judan as vice chairman, managing director and CEO.
The strategy is straightforward: aggregate capital, scale operations and cement Abu Dhabi’s position as a globally competitive financial hub for the next phase of growth.
📌 Deals and Debt
Uber Expands in the Middle East: The ride-hailing firm is buying the delivery operations of Turkey’s Getir from Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co. in a $335 million cash-and-debt-free deal.
But wait, there’s more. Uber will also inject $100 million for a 15% stake in Getir’s grocery, retail and water delivery arm, with ambitions to scoop up the rest “in the next few years.” It’s one of Uber’s biggest regional plays since its landmark takeover of Careem.
Billboards Get a Sovereign Backer: Mubadala Capital, and alongside TWG Global, agreed to buy Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings in an all-cash deal valuing the US billboard giant at $6.2 billion.
Powering Up in Saudi Arabia: Meanwhile, Saudi Electricity secured a $4.3 billion financing facility from regional banks, just weeks after tapping global markets with Islamic bonds.
📌 Gulf Markets
IPO Tug-of-War: Saudi banks are quietly pushing back against regulators over plans to boost retail investor allocations in IPOs to as much as 30%, according to reports.
Their concern? Shifting more shares to individual investors during a period of softer demand could weigh on listing performance and post-IPO stability. In short: more crowd, less cushion.
Davos-in-the-Desert Goes Public? The organizer behind Saudi Arabia’s flagship Future Investment Initiative, Richard Attias & Associates, is reportedly preparing for a potential IPO.
In the UAE, consolidation and record earnings stole the spotlight. Dubai’s main power and water company boosted its stake in district cooling firm Empower in a $1.41 billion deal with Dubai Holding. Also, Dubai’s biggest listed developer, Emaar Properties, delivered its strongest financial performance on record. And Abu Dhabi’s top developer, Aldar Properties, reported record sales and a 36% jump in profit.
📌 People Moves
- Janus Henderson has appointed Franklin Templeton veteran Naveen Kumar M as senior associate director in Dubai, stepping up efforts to grow its intermediary distribution footprint across the Middle East.
- Rasha Badawi, chief executive officer of Barclays Private Bank in the UAE, is stepping down after a 15-year career with the British lender.
- Barclays has hired Murtaza Gilani from Singapore-headquartered DBS Bank as the head of GCC coverage for ultra-high-net-worth individuals, CityWire reported.
📌 Top Reads From Web
- US preparing for weeks-long operations against Iran if Trump orders an attack (Reuters)
- ByteDance is in talks to sell gaming unit Moonton to Saudi Arabia’s Savvy in a deal valued at between $6 billion and $7 billion (Reuters)
- Saudi AI firm Humain acquires a controlling stake in London-based sports platform ai.oi (Semafor)
- Saudi Arabia names wealth fund executive Fahad Al-Saif as investment minister (Semafor)
- Trump expected to attend Saudi Future Investment Initiative conference in Miami (Reuters)
- Saudi Arabia plans to release an updated strategy for economic diversification (Bloomberg)
- QatarEnergy pushes start of multibillion-dollar LNG expansion project to end-2026 (Bloomberg)
- BlueFive launches aircraft leasing platform, targets $1 billion fund (Zawya)
📌 Before You Go
Dubai Nears 100 Million Flyers: Dubai International Airport, already one of the world’s busiest hubs, is on track to handle nearly 100 million passengers in 2026 after a record 95.2 million travelers last year.
The surge cements Dubai’s role as a super-connector between Europe, Asia and Africa, and the numbers don’t lie. The city welcomed nearly 20 million international overnight visitors in 2025.
And Your Next Ride Might Drive Itself: Uber and Baidu are rolling out autonomous ride-hailing in Dubai. The Apollo Go self-driving vehicles will launch in select parts of Jumeirah next month, bookable straight from the Uber app, with expansion planned. Yes, your beach ride may soon have no driver.
