Qatar’s Hamad International Airport to boost capacity by 20%

Doha’s Hamad International Airport, the second busiest in the region, plans to increase its annual capacity by nearly 20% using the existing infrastructure.

The strategy outlined by Chief Operating Office Hamad Al-Khater contrasts with its rival Dubai International Airport, which is spending $35 billion on a new terminal to handle 260 million passengers.

“We believe we can even fit 75 to 77 million passengers within the current footprint of the airport,” Al-Khater told Bloomberg. “It needs a lot of work, a lot of optimization, but that is our primary goal.”

Last year, Doha’s airport handled some 53 million passengers, making it the tenth busiest airport in the world by international traffic, ahead of Bangkok, Madrid and Munich.

Gulf leaders count takeaways from Trump trip at Qatar summit

After committing more than $2.7 trillion in U.S. investments over the next decade while President Donald Trump toured the region last week, Gulf financial leaders are starting to connect the dots on what that will mean for their economies.

Analysis of the Trump trip was center stage today at the Qatar Economic Forum, where cabinet ministers and investors dissected last week’s events in Doha, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi – from U.S. tariffs and gas prices to Qatari airplanes.

Qatar Investment Authority CEO Mohammed Al Sowaidi, said the sovereign wealth fund expects to at least double its spending in the U.S. compared to the past five or six years.

“We believe in the growth and robustness of the U.S. system,” Al Sowaidi said during the first day of the three-day conference.

The QIA chief said last week that Qatar would invest an additional $500 billion in the U.S. over the next 10 years, focusing on artificial intelligence, data centers and health care, according to Bloomberg, the chief media partner for the conference which was underwritten by the Qatari government.

Earlier, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani defended the government’s decision to give the U.S. a Boeing 747 jumbo jet to replace the 40-year-old Air Force One aircraft that has been the subject of Trump’s complaints.

“I don’t know why people consider it as bribery or Qatar trying to buy influence with this administration,” he told the forum, calling it a routine transaction between nations. “We need to overcome this stereotype.”

UAE welcomes Trump amid anticipation of AI chip deals with U.S.

In the final leg of his tour through the Gulf’s royal palaces, U.S. President Donald Trump landed in Abu Dhabi on Thursday as G42 and other UAE tech firms awaited a green light for billions of dollars in advanced chip deals.

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed greeted the U.S. leader at Abu Dhabi’s exclusive Presidential Terminal after a brief flight on Air Force One from neighboring Qatar. Also on hand to welcome Trump were the President’s brothers, Vice President and National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, who is Chairman of G42, and Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed.

Earlier in the day, Qatar hosted a business conference with Trump in the capital city of Doha and the president talked talked to U.S. soldiers at the Al Udeid U.S. Air Base, which has been an anchor for America’s security alliance in the Gulf.

The U.S. leader woke up in Doha after Emir Sheikh Tamim hosted a lavish state dinner at Lusail Palace on Wednesday night. On Trump’s arrival in Qatar, his motorcade passed sword dancers, parading camels and a royal honor guard mounted on Arabian stallions.

Today’s visit to the UAE is the last stop in his regional tour, which started on Tuesday when he landed in Riyadh and wraps up with Friday’s return to Washington.

Trump and close adviser Elon Musk spent two days in Saudi Arabia, hosted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and holding chats with corporate leaders from such powerhouses as Aramco, the Public Investment Fund, Nvidia, OpenAI, BlackRock and Citigroup.

In Abu Dhabi, where main roads are decked out with neon signs welcoming Trump, the president was expected to announce a preliminary agreement to let the UAE import 500,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips per year, starting in 2025, boosting the Emirates’ construction of data centers required for the highest level of AI development, Reuters reports.

Twenty percent of the chips will be allocated to UAE tech firm G42, and the remainder will be allocated to U.S. companies like Microsoft and Oracle that are building data centers in the UAE. The deal could potentially extend through 2027 or even 2030, according to the news agency.

The White House said Trump secured deals totaling more than $243 billion with Qatar after leaders from the Gulf peninsula state pledged some $1.2 trillion in American investment. The UAE has committed to investing $1.4 trillion in the U.S. over the next 10 years, while Saudi Arabia said it hopes to reach $1 trillion during Trump’s four-year term.

Among the largest deals was Qatar’s $96 billion plan to acquire as many as 210 Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777X aircraft. The U.S. and Qatari governments also signed off on a $1 billion agreement for Raytheon to provide counter-drone capabilities to Qatar. General Atomics also secured a nearly $2 billion agreement for Qatar to acquire MQ-9B drones.

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, meanwhile, defended his country’s offer to Trump of a luxury jet to replace the 40-year-old Air Force One, telling CNN it was not an influence-buying effort.

“It is government to government. The transaction has nothing to do with personnel, whether it’s on the U.S. side or on the Qatari side,” he said, adding that Qatar is ready to withdraw the plan if it’s found to be illegal.

Trump moves on to Qatar after bounty of deals in Saudi Arabia

U.S. President Donald Trump took his Middle East dealmaking tour to Qatar today after a summit meeting in Riyadh with leaders of the six Gulf states that focused in part on promoting more investment in American military hardware and artificial intelligence.

The visit to Qatar’s capital of Doha continued to generate criticism from Democrats in Congress over Trump’s intention to accept a gift from the Qatari government of a refurbished $400 million plane that would temporarily replace Air Force One.

Arriving in the early afternoon after a short flight from Saudi Arabia, Trump landed at Hamad International Airport in Doha and was met by Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim, who was waiting on a yellow carpet to symbolize the desert peninsula’s sandy terrain.

Tomorrow, the President will meet Qatari business leaders for breakfast and greet U.S. soldiers at the Al Udeid U.S. Air Base, before taking off for the UAE.

In his two-day visit to Riyadh, Trump lavished attention on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who said he would try to meet the President’s challenge for investing $1 trillion in the U.S. over the next four years.

At a Saudi-U.S. business conference in Riyadh, Trump and MBS held court with a constellation of billionaires, including Tesla’s Elon Musk, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman and Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio.

From the Saudi business world, the conference featured Muhammad Al Jasser, Chairman of Islamic Development Bank; Nabeel Koshak, CEO of Saudi Venture Capital; Marc Winterhoff, Interim CEO of Lucid; John Pagano, Group CEO of Red Sea Global; Mohammad Abunayyan, Chairman of ACWA Power; Tony Douglas, CEO of Riyadh Air; and Jerry Inzerillo, Group CEO of Diriyah Co.

The Saudi Crown Prince wrapped up the day by bringing Trump for a tour of Diriyah, the ancestral home of the Al Saud royal family, which was led by Inzerillo. The site is undergoing a massive renovation as one of the multibillion megaprojects undertaken by the kingdom, along with the 100-mile long Neom city on the kingdom’s west coast and the Al Mukkab skyscraper cube in Riyadh.

Among the biggest issues discussed in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday was the extent to which the Trump administration would lift sanctions on AI semiconductor chips that are being eagerly sought by the Gulf states.

Nvidia, the world’s biggest semiconductor maker, agreed to supply its most advanced AI chips to Saudi Arabia’s Humain, a company created to push that country’s AI infrastructure efforts, Bloomberg reports. Humain will get “several hundred thousand” of Nvidia’s most advanced processors over the next five years, starting with 18,000 of its cutting-edge GB300 Grace Blackwell products and its InfiniBand networking technology.

Huang saw his personal net worth surge to approximately $120 billion over the day, up from $80 billion a year ago, driven by soaring demand for the company’s AI chips that has fueled a sharp rise in its stock, Reuters reports.

AMD, Nvidia’s nearest rival in AI accelerators, will provide chips and software for data centers “stretching from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States” in a $10 billion project, Humain and AMD said.

Also, Saudi VC firm STV launched a $100 million AI fund backed by Google to invest in MENA startups, as part of a broader set of tech-focused U.S.-Saudi agreements announced during President Trump’s visit to Riyadh, Bloomberg reports. And Saudi Arabia agreed to authorize the use of Musk’s Starlink service for aviation and maritime shipping, the SpaceX founder announced.

Trump energy secretary sees ‘huge cooperation’ with the UAE

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright kicked off his tour of the Gulf this week with a palace visit in Abu Dhabi and a tour of the UAE’s state oil company.

Wright, laying the groundwork for President Donald Trump’s trip to the region, expected next month, was received by UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed on Thursday for talks that focused on joint investments in artificial intelligence and other technologies, The National reports.

The U.S. energy czar, founder of an oil fracking company, also paid a visit to the Abu Dhabi headquarters of Adnoc, where he said partnerships with the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar were key to meeting growing global demand for oil and gas. He also plans to visit Riyadh and Doha during the trip.

“You’re going to see a lot of energy cooperation between the United States and the UAE,” Wright told reporters. “You’re going to see a huge cooperation on AI.”

Also meeting Wright at Qatr Al Shati Palace in the UAE capital were Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi; Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, the ADNOC Chairman and Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology; Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior; Suhail Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure; and Yousef Al Otaiba, Minister of State and the UAE’s Ambassador to Washington.

Qatar sovereign fund’s new CEO plans to invest ‘aggressively’

The new chief of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund plans to shake things up in Doha.
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CEO Mohammed Al-Sowaidi tells the Financial Times that the Qatar Investment Authority will deploy funds more “aggressively” and “do bigger-ticket deals,” counting on a projected windfall from gas prices that could ultimately double the fund’s size.

Sowaidi said he was bullish on the U.S., the U.K. and Asia, with plans to focus on technology, artificial intelligence, healthcare, real estate and infrastructure.

Al-Sowaidi was the QIA’s chief of investment in the Americas before he was appointed CEO last month.

Web Summit Qatar draws more than 1,100 startups

Doha’s tech scene is in the spotlight this week as a Middle East edition of Web Summit — touted as the world’s biggest technology conference — opens today in Qatar’s capital city.

More than 1,100 startups from 80 countries are expected to attend the four-day event as the Qatari government joins its neighbors in trying to lure early-stage tech companies to set up shop in the country. Tickets sold out more than a week ago.

One of those efforts, which is expected to be promoted heavily at Web Summit, is Startup Qatar. The program was rolled out last week and is offering free visas, tax waivers, licenses, office space and funding to promising tech firms.

Among the event’s prominent participants are Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan.

Top financiers and founders include Huda Al-Lawati, founder and CEO of UAE fund manager Aliph Capital; Will Ahmed, founder and CEO of U.S. wearable tech company Whoop; Fadi Ghandour, Managing Partner at UAE VC fund Wamda Capital; Hosam Arab, co-founder & CEO of Riyadh-based FinTech startup Tabby and Edward Achtner, Head of AI at HSBC.

Qatar Investment Authority, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, will also feature prominently with Daniyal Khan, a Director for QIA’s advisory group in New York, and Head of Tech Mohammed Al-Hardan set to speak.

One topic driving the conversation will be why VC dollars are drying up almost everywhere except the Middle East – in particular, the GCC countries. A session tomorrow will tackle this directly: QIA Chief Investment Officer for the Americas Mohammed Al-Sowaidi; Noor Sweid, Founder & Managing Partner at Global Ventures, and Khaled Talhouni, Managing Partner of Nuwa Capital, will be in conversation with TIME contributor Zachary Karabell.