Congressional China hawks are raising red flags over Microsoft’s $1.5 billion investment in Abu Dhabi artificial intelligence firm G42, Politico reports.

The deal, brokered with the help of the U.S. Commerce Department, was in part aimed at bringing the UAE – a regional leader in AI development – out of China’s “camp,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said at the time.

Microsoft and G42 are now in initial talks for a follow-on agreement that could include the transfer of cutting-edge U.S.-designed semiconductors to G42.

In February, G42 said it is divesting its stakes in Chinese companies and in recent months has “signaled a willingness” to replace hardware made by Huawei and other Chinese vendors with U.S. alternatives, according to Politico.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he has “serious concerns that the Biden Commerce Department, under Secretary Raimondo, is not adequately safeguarding our advanced technologies.”

On the other hand, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) hailed the deal and said Congress “should welcome countries who choose to align themselves with the United States,” describing the UAE as a strategic ally and a moderating force in the Middle East.

The UAE is likely to achieve its full oil capacity target of 5 million barrels a day more than a year earlier than expected, Bloomberg reports.

ADNOC, the state-owned oil company, is on course to reach the threshold by the end of next year or early 2026, which is ahead of the 2027 goal the company had set, according to people with knowledge of the operations.

The higher capacity will be a potential source of tension as OPEC+ debates new production quotas later this year, the news agency said.

OPEC and its partners have been restricting output for years to shore up the market and raise prices.

The UAE – which said this month that it had raised capacity from last year’s level – has been eager to use some of its spare volume, according to Bloomberg.

The country has occasionally clashed with Saudi Arabia on the issue, risking a split among the group three years ago, before a compromise was found.

Mars Bars, the gooey chocolate candy sold virtually everywhere on Earth, are finding the MENA market to be a sweet spot for sales growth.

Counting on both kids and adult snackers to keep devouring the high-calorie munchies, Mars Egypt – the Middle East subsidiary of McClean, Virginia.-based Mars Inc. – laid out plans this week to invest $250 million in expanding its Cairo-area factory near the pyramids in Giza.

Over the course of an 18-month construction period, the plant’s production capacity is slated to increase from 25,000 to 40,000 tons a year.

Alongside the caramel-infused chocolate bars, Mars currently makes roughly 150 products on the Egyptian factory’s six production lines, including Snickers, Altoids and Juicy Fruit chewing gum.

The expansion will add two new production lines and 15 new products by the start of next year, the plant’s director, Osama Hellal, told the Zawya news agency on a factory tour.

Mars Egypt exports to over 40 countries in Africa, the Mideast, Europe and Australia.

International Holding Co., the $240 billion conglomerate that grew out of an obscure Emirati fish farming business, is seeking to reward shareholders as the company’s phenomenal growth spurt has stalled.

The Abu Dhabi-based firm, led by Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed, brother of the UAE’s President, is making plans for a $1.4 billion buyback program aimed at reviving its stock price to “create significant value in the future,” CEO Syed Basar Shueb tells Bloomberg.

Between 2019 and 2022, IHC shares on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange rocketed 43,000%. Over the past two years, however, they’ve leveled off and hovered around the level of 400 dirhams.

IHC announced the buyback program May 6 and plans to execute the plan over a one-year period, pending approval from investors and regulators.

“This is our strategy for rewarding our shareholders,” Shueb said.

Proptech is having a moment in the Middle East. A flurry of deals among some of the biggest property technology players in the region amid a glut of real estate development projects in the Gulf has prompted capital data platform Magnitt to ponder: Is this a proptech bubble? 

Saudi Arabia and the UAE in particular are driving the action. The total value of real estate projects currently planned or under construction stands at an estimated $1.68 trillion, up from $1.38 trillion a year earlier, according to commercial real estate firm CBRE.

Saudi Arabia accounts for 63.1% of the total or some $1.06 trillion, followed by the UAE, which at $409 billion, accounts for 24.4% of the total.

This week Dubai-based property marketplace startup Huspy announced a new funding round led by London VC firm Balderton Capital – with participation from Fifth Wall at a higher valuation than its Series A in 2022 – bucking a broader trend of downward value corrections.

Huspy, which has offices in Madrid, is planning a European expansion and a mobile app with more features. Property Finder, another Dubai-based property portal, closed a $90 million buyback deal with Francisco Partners earlier this month, allowing original backer BECO Capital to exit with the Dubai property portal valued at more than $1 billion, according to Founder Michael Lahyani. 

Proptech up-and-comers have also closed deals: UAE-based rent-now-pay-later platform Keyper raised $4 million in a pre-Series A round and received $30 million in sukuk financing.

And Egypt’s Birdnest, a startup that develops technology for real estate investors, announced the close of a pre-Series A funding round led by Beltone Venture Capital and CI Venture Capital.

Still, startups take off from a low base of funding deals and smaller check sizes amid the global downturn in venture capital activity.

Real estate venture funding in the Middle East, Pakistan and Turkey dropped 78% year-on-year in 2023, according to Magnitt.

“There’s definitely energy in the region for proptech investments, but whether the VC space will reflect the broader industry growth remains to be seen,” Magnitt CEO Philip Bahoshy wrote in a note today. 

The PGA Tour’s deal with the Public Investment Fund’s LIV Golf “is far from dead,” The New York Times’ DealBook reports.

Term sheets have been exchanged between the North American pro tour and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund “in recent days,” according to reporter Lauren Hirsch.

Under the proposed deal, the PIF would pour $1.5 billion into the tour’s for-profit arm.

In January, Fenway Sports made a $1.5 billion investment in the PGA, with participation from hedge funder Steven Cohen and fellow billionaires Marc Lasry and Arthur Blank, who took a minority stake in the commercial unit of the tour.

The current deal up for negotiation would give the tour $3 billion in new funding, with the Saudis and U.S. investors each chipping in half.

The PGA Tour would retain majority control. What the term sheet does not resolve is what would become of LIV Golf under the agreement. 

G42, the UAE artificial intelligence firm led by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, is establishing a foothold in Africa, building on its blossoming relationship with Microsoft.

The Abu Dhabi-based firm announced that, in collaboration with Microsoft, it will invest $1 billion in Kenya to strengthen the East African country’s digital foundations.

The joint initiative, unveiled in Washington D.C. on Wednesday during a state visit by Kenyan President William Ruto, includes building a geothermal-powered data center to run Microsoft Azure cloud computing services in East Africa.

G42 and Microsoft will also work with Kenyan partners to develop local-language AI models, create training programs to teach AI skills and establish an East Africa Innovation Lab.

Microsoft signed an agreement last month to invest $1.5 billion in G42, giving it a seat on the AI company’s board with Sheikh Tahnoon, the brother of UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed who also serves as UAE National Security Advisor and Chairman of sovereign wealth funds ADQ and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

President Joe Biden will hold a state dinner at the White House for the Kenyan leader tonight, after pledging on Wednesday to bolster the 60-year relationship between the two countries and “transform millions of lives – I mean, literally, millions of lives” with technology partnerships.

Meg Whitman, the U.S. Ambassador to Kenya and former CEO of eBay and Hewlett Packard who escorted Ruto in Washington, is profiled by Politico this week on her efforts to deepen U.S. business ties with Africa.

At the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, meanwhile, Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah, President and CEO of Dubai Chambers, pitched the emirate’s competitive advantages on Wednesday as a business partner for African firms looking to operate in the Gulf and use it as a springboard for further-flung business activities.

In the face of doomsayers who see artificial intelligence as wiping out jobs, Dubai is launching a campaign to make human involvement a key part of its approach to AI.

The Dubai Future Foundation unveiled its “One Million Prompters” project on Tuesday that aims to create a bounty of jobs for residents trained in the growing field of prompt engineering.

The work centers on using the best terms to make AI systems handle tasks most efficiently.

“We aim to prepare, develop and empower competencies with the skills needed to harness the potential of AI applications to advance innovation, progress and economic growth,” said Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai, and Chairman the DFF.

Separately, UAE Minister for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications Omar Al Olama said in an interview with Reuters that, following Microsoft’s $1.5 billion investment in Abu Dhabi-based AI firm G42, he expects more joint AI investments between his country and the U.S.