Mubadala’s Khaldoon Al Mubarak touts fund’s ‘AI copilot’ at conference in Pittsburgh

Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Chief Executive Officer of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co., said the sovereign wealth fund is integrating artificial intelligence at every level of its decision-making process, describing AI as a transformative tool that is rapidly strengthening the fund’s capabilities.

Speaking Tuesday at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University, organized by Republican Sen. Dave McCormick, Al Mubarak said Mubadala makes about 40% of its investments in the U.S. and wants to play a pioneering role in the global use of AI.

“What we’re doing a lot of right now is not just investing, but also enabling the technology,” he said while participating in a panel discussion. “When it comes to the enablement of AI, we’re probably, surprisingly, one of the leaders in the world.”

President Donald Trump headlined the summit with an address in which he hailed more than $92 billion in new investments made in Pennsylvania by such firms as Blackstone, CoreWeave and Meta Platforms focused on artificial intelligence and energy infrastructure.

Mubadala is an investor in G42, an Abu Dhabi-based tech firm that raised $1.5 billion from Microsoft last year to work together on AI and build data centers. The fund is also a shareholder in MGX, an investment firm participating alongside OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle in the $100 billion venture announced by Trump in January to fund artificial intelligence infrastructure in the U.S.

At the one-day conference, Blackstone President Jon Gray outlined some $25 billion the firm plans to invest in data centers. He was joined in Pittsburgh by BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Bridgewater’s Nir Bar Dea and a roster of other top corporate executives and cabinet members.

Al Mubarak said Mubadala’s Investment Committee now includes an “AI copilot” that interacts with both committee members and external teams pitching investment proposals. The fund, which manages approximately $300 billion in assets, has increasingly positioned itself as a technology-focused investor, backing AI firms alongside deploying the tools internally. 

“In Mubadala, our AI copilot sits with us in the Investment Committee,” he said. “All the board members, all the Investment Committee members obviously interact directly with the agent and obviously the teams (that are) coming in (and) pitching us.”

The panel in which Al Mubarak participated was moderated by Dina Powell McCormick, the senator’s wife who was Deputy National Security Advisor to Trump in his first term and is now Vice Chairman and President of Global Client Services at BDT & MSD Partners, a merchant bank based in Chicago and New York.

He described the AI copilot as a powerful analytical tool used to challenge investment propositions and support human judgment.

“What I found now after almost one year of implementation is a huge learning curve, and really that capability is strengthening in a way that is phenomenal,” Al Mubarak said. 

Among corporate leaders at the event were ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods, Chevron’s Mike Wirth, Alphabet/Google’s Ruth Porat, Palentir’s Alex Karp and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei.

From Trump’s cabinet, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Energy Secretary Chris Wright attended the forum.

Mubadala assets climb to $327 billion amid AI, credit push

Mubadala Investment Co., Abu Dhabi’s second-largest sovereign wealth fund, grew more than 9% last year, with assets under management reaching $327 billion.

In a 2024 earnings statement released today, Mubadala cited its co-founding of the MGX tech fund specializing in AI investments as a highlight of the year’s activities.

Also notable were its establishment of satellite company Space 42 through a merger, co-investments in real estate with Aldar Properties, and private credit lending in partnership with Apollo, Goldman Sachs, Carlyle and other U.S. money managers.

“Our portfolio has been constructed to navigate market cycles and scale future-focused sectors – from AI and clean energy to life sciences, semiconductors, and advanced manufacturing,” Group CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak said.

Mubadala swells to $302 billion as it pours capital into AI and life sciences

Mubadala Investment Co., Abu Dhabi’s second-largest sovereign wealth fund, published its 2023 annual review today, revealing the fund has swelled to $302 billion in assets under management and deployed $27 billion over the year.

Those investments were focused on opportunities in artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure, life sciences and the energy transition as well as expanding its holdings in private credit, according to a statement.

“Amidst the complexities that defined the global investment landscape in 2023, Mubadala accelerated its shift towards targeted investments that will shape the future economy” of the UAE, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group CEO, said in a statement.

Mubadala reported $27 billion in investment returns, a 19.5% decline from the market peak in 2021 and down 6.6% compared to 2022. The portfolio achieved a five-year rate of return of 10.3%.

Mubadala’s Al Mubarak on investing in India, China, energy

Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Group CEO and Managing Director of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co., said the sovereign wealth fund sees growing opportunities in India, China and the global transition from carbon-based fuels.

Speaking on a panel at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Monday, Al Mubarak said the two most populous countries have tremendous infrastructure and energy needs that are attractive investments for Mubadala.

India “is one of the most digitalized economies in the world,” Al Mubarak said. “It’s an “interesting economy that one has to keep a very close eye on and infrastructure is going to be a key driver to growth there.”

China’s economic slowdown and huge infrastructure needs make its companies especially ripe for investment, the Mubadala chief said. “It’s actually quite cheap and I think for an investor that’s looking at a 5, 10-year horizon, there’s an interesting opportunity for sure there.”

Noting that the UAE is one of the biggest investors in solar, wind and other renewable power sources, Al Mubarak said fossil fuels will remain a crucial part of world energy requirements. Particularly power-hungry are data centers dealing with artificial intelligence, he said.

“The world is big,” Al Mubarak said, recommending that investors look beyond the U.S. market. “It depends what your investment appetite is, what your risk appetite is, when you’re looking at growth and when you’re looking at innovation. You have to, I think, be open minded to both east and west, and north and south.”