The race is on for dominance over AI development in the Gulf.

At dueling conferences this week in Dubai and Riyadh, government ministers, investors and corporate executives are sketching out their visions for integrating artificial intelligence into virtually all aspects of daily life.

Addressing a packed ballroom at the Dubai AI & Web3 Festival on Wednesday, Omar Al Olama, the UAE’s Minister of State for AI, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, pledged that companies with the most innovative technologies will have the government’s backing.

“Our job is to enable you, our job is to ensure you’re able to use Dubai and the UAE as a springboard to make global companies that will make global impact and change the future,” Al Olama said.

In the Saudi capital, where the vast King Abdulaziz International Conference Center played host to the annual global AI summit known as GAIN, the buzz in the corridors was about chips – specifically whether the U.S. government will allow Nvidia to export its advanced AI semiconductor chips to Saudi Arabia, Semafor reports.

Saudi leaders have been trying to allay the Biden administration’s concerns that the kingdom’s growing ties with China could lead to the leaking of technological U.S. secrets and damage national security.

As Saudi Arabia opens its doors wider to international tourism, visitors have discovered that it pays to keep some riyals in their wallets.

That’s an opportunity that Travelex, the U.K.-based currency exchange firm, couldn’t miss out on.

Travelex CEO Richard Wazacz tells The National his company is intrigued by the opportunity of dotting the kingdom’s airports with his company’s currency booths.

“We operate in every GCC market except Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and we are very interested in operating in other markets,” he said. “Saudi Arabia is the one that interests us the most.”

The price tag keeps on getting higher for Saudi Arabia’s ambitious national building program – from the futuristic city of Neom in the west to the Qiddiya cluster of theaters, theme parks and a Formula 1 track in Riyadh.

Tallying the expenditures indicated for all the property, infrastructure and tourism projects that the kingdom has started over the past eight years, Knight Frank, the London-based real estate consulting firm, estimates the total cost at $1.3 trillion, up 4% from a year ago.

About $164 billion worth of real estate contracts have been awarded since 2016, when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled his Vision 2030 strategy to wean the country off its dependence on oil and unleash underdeveloped industries such as mining, manufacturing, tourism and entertainment, Knight Frank said in a report.

The largest chunk of that money – $28.7 billion – has gone to Neom, with heavy spending on the development within it known as The Line, a pair of mirrored towers expected to eventually span more than 105 miles through the desert. Bloomberg reports.

Other banner projects include establishing the National Housing Co. with $12 billion to build more than 1 million homes, the development of Riyadh’s Diriyah Gate section at $9 billion and the entertainment city of Qiddiya in the capital with almost $7 billion.

Egypt’s inflation is picking up again after slowing for five months amid the $57 billion international bailout led by the International Monetary Fund and the UAE.

The consumer price index rose 2.1% in August, indicating the fastest inflation rate since February.

Prices had been stabilizing in Egypt despite recent food subsidy cuts and hikes in fuel and electricity.

The most recent CPI is scaling back expectations that Egypt’s central bank would cut the benchmark interest rate from its current all-time high of 27.25%, Bloomberg reports.

Oman’s state energy company OQ may be about to pull off the Gulf’s biggest IPO this year.

In an offering that could raise some $2 billion, the Muscat-based firm said on Monday it will sell a 25% stake next month in its OQ Exploration & Production subsidiary. The company also plans to pay $600 million in  annual dividends from 2024 to 2026, along with a performance-linked dividend in 2025 and 2026.

The IPO would value OQEP, as the business is known, at around $8 billion, according to Bloomberg, though the company did not provide details of the valuation. OQ’s effort to raise the large sum may reflect the drop in oil prices, which tumbled last week to the lowest point in three years amid concerns over slumping global demand.

If successful, the IPO would be the largest in the Gulf region since ADNOC Gas raised $2.5 billion in February 2023. Last year, OQ raised almost $750 million in its gas pipelines and oil-drilling businesses.

Kuwait is suffering from more than the intense summer heat this year.

High temperatures have increased electricity demand and led to an unusual series of blackouts, The New York Times reports.

Although the country is one of the wealthiest in the world, its power grid is under strain, leading to the summer power cuts.

Delays in expanding the grid, along with a shift from oil to imported natural gas for power generation, have contributed to the electricity shortages, according to the newspaper. 

Some of the problems have been blamed on the country’s disorganized administration, which has had 14 electricity ministers over the past 10 years.

First it was Ray Dalio. Now Leon Black, the billionaire co-founder of Apollo Global Management, has opened a branch of his family office in Abu Dhabi.

Black’s new Middle East base, called Scimitar, is investing with a locally based team led by Asad Hussaini, an experienced Gulf real estate investor, Bloomberg reports.

“I’ve been coming here for more than 30 years and the growth and prosperity that has occurred under Abu Dhabi’s visionary leadership is truly remarkable,” Black said in a statement emailed to the news agency. “My family office wants to be a part of that transformation.”

Scimitar will be located in Abu Dhabi Global Market, the emirate’s financial free zone, which has become a hub for hedge funds, private equity firms and family offices.

Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, moved to the ADGM last year while crypto-exchange founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, India’s Adani family and Russian steel magnate Vladimir Lisin also have offices registered there.

NMDC Energy’s IPO next week is shaping up to be the UAE’s biggest this year.

The offering, expected to raise about $877 million, was oversubscribed by 31 times after its presentation to institutional investors.

The Abu Dhabi-based company, a subsidiary of National Marine Dredging Co., will use the funds to expand regionally and globally, CEO Yasser Zaghloul said in a statement.

“We are building a legacy that goes beyond profits,” he said. “It’s about sustainable growth, technological innovation and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the energy sector.”