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.”

Global Ventures’ Sweid says portfolio firms are pivoting to AI

The state of the venture capital market — and how it is being reshaped by artificial intelligence — was top of the agenda on Thursday, the final day of the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha, with partners from Global Ventures, Golden Gate Ventures and Alpha Wave Global sounding off on a panel.

“Our founders, they’ve struggled the same amount they’ve always struggled,” Noor Sweid, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Global Ventures, said with a laugh.

The Dubai venture capitalist was commenting on the state of venture funding that has seen deal activity and check sizes plunge globally, as she emphasized that the region’s start-ups — for whom she is a vocal champion — are no strangers to dealing with challenges. Startups tend to be cash flow positive faster and demonstrate good business fundamentals because they are used to being in a cash-constrained funding environment, Sweid said.

Sweid also noted a trend toward Global Ventures’ portfolio companies pivoting to integrate AI tools, adding that of the more than 60 startups the six-year-old Dubai VC has backed, 40% of them could be considered AI firms today.  

Golden Gate Ventures Founder Vinnie Lauria, speaking alongside Sweid, said the Singaporean fund is eyeing B2B AI investments and said there is a strengthening corridor between his portfolio companies from Southeast Asia and the Gulf, as they find a foothold in cities like Abu Dhabi and Riyadh to access the regional market.  

Golden Gate, founded by Silicon Valley natives, announced its first $100 million MENA fund on Wednesday with $20 million in commitments from Al Khor Holding, Al Attiya Group and Sheikh Jassim Bin Jabor Al Thani. 

Rick Gerson, Co-Founder and Chairman of U.S. asset manager Alpha Wave Global, noted the $1.5 billion Microsoft investment in Abu Dhabi AI firm G42 as the “first large-scale demonstration of AI’s success in the region.” In 2022, the Miami Beach-based firm took on the co-management of a $10 billion VC fund with Abu Dhabi’s Chimera Capital. Gerson also noted the significant amount of exposure Alpha Wave has in India, adding that the Middle East represents a massive, largely untapped opportunity for the firm’s portfolio. 

Qatar makes chips play amid Gulf push into AI

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani opened the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha this morning with the message that the country is continuing its economic diversification efforts driven by its sovereign wealth fund, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).

QIA, which has over a half trillion dollars in assets under management, has made the U.S. its main market but it is eyeing emerging markets like Central Asia and Africa, he said, and the fund is accelerating investments in technology. 

His remarks at the Bloomberg-hosted forum follow an announcement from the QIA last night that it plans to be an anchor investor in Ardian Semiconductor, a fund set up by French private equity firm Ardian to invest in the semiconductor industry across Europe. 

No deal terms were disclosed but the move comes as Gulf sovereigns are jockeying for key pieces of what is powering the AI revolution, including chips, data centers and intellectual property.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund launched the $100 billion AI investment firm Alat in February and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala followed up a month later as a founding partner of MGX, a deep tech-focused fund aiming for $100 billion in assets under management. 

The three-day conference will feature Jenny Johnson, President & CEO of Franklin Templeton (who addressed the Abu Dhabi Global Healthcare Week yesterday), and Ken Griffin, Founder and CEO of Citadel.

Also joining panels in Qatar’s capital will be Darren Woods, Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil; Noor Sweid, Founder and Managing Partner of UAE-based Global Ventures; Rick Gerson, Co-Founder and Chair of Alpha Wave; and Gerry Cardinale, Founder, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Redbird Capital Partners.

Musk, oil prices, soccer dominate stage at Qatar Economic Forum

Heads of state, oil executives and the richest man in the world pondered the prospects for a U.S. recession this week during the Qatar Economic Forum.

The three-day conference in the capital city of Doha, which concluded on Wednesday, focused on matters ranging from the global economic slowdown and escalating crude prices to whether Qatar can rustle up enough beds to handle 1.2 million ticket-holders for soccer’s 2022 World Cup in November.

Elon Musk, however, stole the show when he injected new uncertainty into the question of whether he will ultimately buy Twitter and talked about where he’s spending other portions of his $220 billion personal fortune.

Musk, the 50-year-old chief executive of electric carmaker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, said there were still “unresolved matters” holding up his $44 billion bid for the popular social media platform.

“There is the question of will the debt portion of the round come together and then will the shareholders vote in favor,” he said in an interview on Tuesday with John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, who was onstage in Qatar while Musk was in the U.S. talking by video feed.

Asked about the U.S. economy, Musk said a recession is inevitable and outlined the job cuts he’s ordered at Tesla that will reduce the salaried workforce by 10%. “As to whether there is a recession in the near-term, that is more likely than not.”

Bloomberg LP was media sponsor of the conference, which was streamed live on its website. The company’s billionaire founder, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, delivered opening remarks alongside the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The event was underwritten by the Qatari government.

Among Musk’s backers in his bid for Twitter is Qatar Holding LLC, which committed to invest $375 million. The company is owned by the Qatar Investment Authority, the country’s sovereign wealth fund. 

Also onstage was ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods, who said oil companies will need three to five years to “catch up” on the investments required to assure adequate world supply. He spoke on a panel with Qatari Energy Minister Saad Al-Kaabi, with whom he also signed an investment agreement to take a 6.25% stake in Qatar’s $29 million North Field liquefied natural gas project.

Other heads of state who participated in the forum were Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Namibian President Hage Geingob and Khazakistan President Kassym-Jomart K. Tokayev.

The conference ended Wednesday with appearances by Gianni Infantino, president of the World Cup’s governing body FIFA, and the Qatari government’s chief organizer for the tournament, Hassan Al-Thawadi. Qatar, which does not have nearly enough hotel beds for the expected crowds, plans to bring cruise ships, pitch Bedouin tents in the desert and run shuttle flights to nearby Gulf states to handle the onslaught of fans.

Asked whether Qatar is prepared, Al-Thawadi said, “We’re more or less there.”