The Middle East AI competition is heating up! Qatar teamed up with asset management giant Brookfield (BAM.US) to build a $20 billion infrastructure platform
The Zhitong Finance App learned that Brookfield Asset Management (BAM.US) and the Qatar Investment Authority announced a joint venture platform with a scale of 20 billion US dollars to focus on the layout of the artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure sector. The implementation of this cooperation highlights that the competition for dominance of the AI industry in the Middle East is becoming increasingly heated.
According to a joint statement issued by the two sides on Tuesday, New York-based Brookfield and Qai, a newly established subsidiary of the Qatar Sovereign Wealth Fund (with a scale of 524 billion US dollars), will jointly invest in AI infrastructure projects in Qatar and selected international markets.
Brookfield will participate in the investment through its newly launched AI special fund. The fund's global fundraising target is as high as 100 billion US dollars, and has now successfully obtained financial commitments from institutional investors such as the Kuwait Investment Authority. As an asset management giant with assets under management of over 1 trillion US dollars, Brookfield has been one of the most active foreign investors in the Gulf region in recent years.
Brookfield CEO Bruce Flatt said, “This partnership is our first investment in AI infrastructure in the Middle East and realizes a strong combination of Qatar's strategic vision and Brookfield's global expertise.”
According to Brookfield estimates, the capital requirement for global AI infrastructure construction in the next ten years will be as high as 7 trillion US dollars. Middle East sovereign wealth funds with trillions of dollars in assets are becoming the core force driving this wave of infrastructure.
In recent years, major economies in the Middle East have been speeding up investment in technology to reduce their dependence on traditional energy revenues. Sovereign wealth funds from various countries have spent tens of billions of dollars, focusing on AI-related industrial chains such as chip research and development, data center construction, and chatbots.
Qatar's neighbor, the United Arab Emirates, is just as active as Saudi Arabia. The two countries have not only set up multi-billion dollar special funds to support the development of local AI startups, but are also focusing on building national benchmark companies, such as Abu Dhabi's G42 Group and Riyadh's Humain.
The Qatar Investment Authority itself continues to increase investment in the AI sector. It not only participated in the $13 billion financing project for Silicon Valley AI startup Anthropic, but also cooperated with Blue Owl Capital to establish a $3 billion data center investment platform.
Mohammed Saif Al-Sowaidi, CEO of the Qatar Investment Authority, said that this collaboration with Brookfield “will help advance Qatar's 2030 national vision and drive the transformation of the country's economy to diversified and innovation-driven.”
This partnership is also Qatar's latest move to attract global investors. Previously, international capital giants such as Global Infrastructure Partners under BLK.US (BLK.US) and B Capital founded by Eduardo Saverin had already announced plans to set up offices in Doha.
Unlike mature international financial centers such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh, Qatar was previously better known as a mediator in geopolitical conflicts, playing a unique role in complex international games with a neutral and pragmatic attitude. According to reports, Qatar is currently planning to use the capital advantage of sovereign wealth funds to attract private equity funds and infrastructure investment funds to set up branches in the country to further promote the development of the local financial market.