Gulf

1. UAE bets big on Italy
2. Qatar lures global VC firms
3. A big data center exit
4. UAE courts Chinese business
5. Gulf wins in new global order

Elon Musk’s dad wants to build a tower in the UAE.

Welcome back to Semafor Gulf, where tech luminaries — and Will Smith — are kicking it in Doha.

The second edition of Web Summit Qatar hit all the metrics for a tech event: a sold-out venue, nearly 26,000 attendees from 124 countries, thousands of startups and investors, actual royals setting the stage — and the “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” himself. The presence of women was noticeable — accounting for almost half the startup founders and a third of attendees — unusual for an industry that allocates most of its capital to male entrepreneurs.

“In our first year, we thought we would get 5,000 people to come and aspired to 12,500,” Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave told me. “We’ve already outgrown the space. I’m sure it’s in some part because we’re awesome, but it’s also indicative of the region. There’s definitely something happening in Qatar.”

But the hot ticket this week wasn’t the packed convention center halls. A short drive away, at a luxury hotel, the Qatar Investment Authority convened fellow sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors from Asia, Europe, the US, and the Gulf — representing $2 trillion in cumulative assets — for an invite-only event with about 30 companies.

The off-the-record gathering — which I briefly gained access to — is an initiative aimed at fostering a more collaborative investment ecosystem among SWFs and other large investors. Around 100 people attended, and you’ll be shocked to learn that among the topics I overheard, which I hope they don’t mind I disclose, was AI.

UAE to invest $40 billion in Italy

The UAE plans to invest $40 billion in Italy, cutting across sectors including defense, energy, and space. More than 40 agreements were signed during President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed’s visit to Rome, where he agreed with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to work toward deepening the countries’ economic partnership. Among the projects: “blue-powered data centers,” which would run on natural gas but capture emissions from the power plant, and joint investments to secure supply chains for critical minerals.

Earlier in February during a state visit to Paris, the UAE committed to invest $50 billion in France’s artificial intelligence sector, including the development of a massive data center and dedicated AI campus. The facility is set to become Europe’s largest AI hub with 1 gigawatt of capacity. Abu Dhabi is spreading its bets in the global AI race: MGX, backed by Mubadala and G42, is participating — alongside OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank — in the $500 billion Stargate project announced by US President Donald Trump last month.

Qatar deploys half of $1B VC fund

The Qatar Investment Authority has committed nearly half of its $1 billion Fund of Funds program to six venture capital firms setting up regional headquarters in the country, QIA’s head of funds investment Mohsin Pirzada told Semafor. “There is sufficient capital today in Qatar for early stage, pre-seed, and even seed rounds, but it’s at Series A to Series B, C, that’s where there’s a funding gap,” Pirzada said in an interview at Web Summit Qatar.

QIA, which manages more than $500 billion, is prioritizing developing a local startup ecosystem over financial returns for its local funds program, focusing on job creation and developing the renewables, artificial intelligence, and food industries. One recipient, London-based UTOPIA Capital Management, raised $40 million for its Doha-based Middle East fund targeting fintech, e-commerce, health tech, logistics, and agri-tech startups.

UAE telecom exits data center venture

The capital gains that UAE telecoms firm e& will earn from selling its 40% stake in Khazna Data Centers, which it acquired in 2022. Abu Dhabi’s AI company G42, the joint venture partner in Khazna with e&, will take majority ownership in the $2.2 billion deal, while MGX — backed by Abu Dhabi’s $330 billion Mubadala sovereign wealth fund — and US private equity firm Silver Lake will become minority investors. Khazna currently operates 30 data centers and plans to open its largest facility, a 100-megawatt data center in the emirate Ajman, by early 2026. Gulf states are investing heavily to become global AI infrastructure hubs, leveraging their abundant energy, capital, and land to develop the massive data centers required for advanced AI models.

UAE ramps up China charm offensive

The UAE is making a major push to deepen ties with China, with back-to-back government delegations targeting investment and tech partnerships. Dubai officials are in Shenzhen this week, following a six-day tour by Abu Dhabi officials across major Chinese cities that sealed multiple deals. The focus: artificial intelligence, advanced tech, and smart cities — as well as attracting top-tier Chinese firms. While UAE investments in China surged 120% in the first nine months of 2024, Chinese foreign direct investment in the country rose just 16%. There’s a growing appetite among Chinese businesses to expand in the UAE: Tech giant Baidu is in talks to introduce its Apollo Go robotaxis in Dubai, its first foreign deployment of the technology.

Chinese tourism to the UAE is also surging. Arrivals in Dubai were up 30% to 824,000 visitors last year, and Emirates airline is racing to meet demand. The carrier is expanding its China network, adding Shenzhen and Hangzhou this summer, despite delays in new aircraft deliveries from Boeing and Airbus.

Gulf states seize global diplomacy role

As geopolitical tensions rise — between the US and Europe, Ukraine, Canada, China… — Gulf states are poised to take leadership roles in regional stability, Ian Bremmer, president of the global research and risk consultancy Eurasia Group, wrote in a note this week. Gulf countries are building strong ties with everyone, allowing them to be trusted mediators for regional and global conflicts. Bremmer said he was “fundamentally bullish on the Gulf broadly and particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the near term. Especially as the Americans destroy their own credibility with the Global South, the partnership possibilities for Gulf states in that sudden vacuum are unprecedented.”

Finance

• ADGM, Abu Dhabi’s financial center, has completed the integration of the capital’s Al Reem Island into its complex, an expansion that adds more than 1,100 new entities to its jurisdiction, along with approximately 500,000 square metres of new office space.

Tech

• San Diego-based wireless technology and semiconductors maker Qualcomm Technologies is the latest global tech firm to join the UAE’s NextGen FDI initiative and set up in Abu Dhabi. The program, launched in 2022, provides support to global companies looking to expand in the region. Qualcomm already has partnerships in Abu Dhabi: it works with AI firm G42 to reduce the cost of AI processing.

Commodities

• QatarEnergy signed a 20-year deal to supply a Chinese company with helium, the noble gas used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, semiconductors, industrial coolants, and of course, for balloons. Qatar is one of the world’s largest exporters and has more than a quarter of global helium reserves.

It looks like the UAE is getting Musk Tower, a home for the Musk Institute and a physical asset for holders of the meme coin MuskIt Token. Errol Musk, the billionaire’s father, has been on a media tour pitching the idea — speaking to AGBI and Al Arabiya — for a structure that would serve as an incubator for advancements in technology, renewable energy, and blockchain, as well as “ignored” sciences like “space-time travel and gravity.” The elder Musk is in discussions with Abu Dhabi-based Al Khaili Group to develop the tower, though there’s no timeframe for completion or confirmed location yet.

A key trade deal between the US and Africa may not survive in its current form, Semafor’s Yinka Adegoke reports.

A key source of doubt about the future of the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) is Trump’s pursuit of tariffs against free trade partners: The US president signed a January executive order that calls on his administration to review all US trade deals, and some analysts are awaiting the April outcome of that review for clues as to AGOA’s future.

“The idea of a preferential trade deal is a difficult one in the current environment,” one expert said.