In a powerful bet on the UAE’s digital future, Microsoft is pouring $15.2 billion into the Gulf state and deepening its partnership with Abu Dhabi’s growing artificial intelligence firm G42.

Having already invested $7.3 billion in the UAE since 2023, Microsoft President Brad Smith announced on Monday that the Seattle, Wash., tech giant will spend an additional $7.9 billion through 2029.

The money will fund advanced artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, data centers, and local operations aimed at expanding the UAE’s digital economy, Smith told the ADIPEC conference in Abu Dhabi.

“We believe in moving fast while staying grounded and being transparent about our investment details,” Smith said in a Microsoft blog post.

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, meanwhile, the UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADIPEC’s official host, has been appointed the Chief Executive Officer of XRG, the international investment arm of national energy company ADNOC.

Al Jaber was already XRG’s Executive Chairman before formally taking the CEO title, following the retirement of Khaled Salmeen, XRG’s former Chief Operating Officer, Bloomberg reports.

Al Jaber is also Group CEO of ADNOC, Chairman of renewable energy firm Masdar and he served as President of the U.N.’s COP28 climate conference that was hosted by the UAE two years ago.

French automaker Renault signed an agreement to produce electric vehicles in Morocco starting 2030 as it seeks to expand exports to African markets.

The company, which operates plants in Tangier and near Casablanca, produced 413,000 vehicles in 2024, 90% of which were exported under the “Made in Morocco” label, Arabian Gulf Business Insight reports.

The deal is expected to create about 7,500 jobs and add a new EV line to Renault’s existing models.

Rival Stellantis runs a factory in Kenitra, while China’s Gotion High Tech plans to build a battery plant in the country.

ADIPEC, the UAE’s annual gathering of leaders in the global energy industry, got underway in Abu Dhabi on Monday, with CEOs from BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies sharing the stage with Microsoft and other tech giants as artificial intelligence becomes central to the energy transition. 

The conference, which runs through Thursday at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, will also spotlight sustainability, hydrogen, carbon capture and geopolitics, reflecting how energy markets are evolving beyond oil and gas production. ADNOC, Masdar and XRG convened 100 global technology, investment and government leaders at the “Enact Majlis” ahead of ADIPEC to emphasize the intersection of energy and AI, The National reports.

Hosting the event is Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, who serves as UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and also heads ADNOC and Abu Dhabi-owned renewables firm Masdar. Among the top tech executives in attendance is Brad Smith, President of Microsoft, which recently invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi AI firm G42. ADNOC and Microsoft announced a new agreement on Sunday to integrate artificial intelligence throughout the UAE company’s operations and support Microsoft’s global AI and data center expansion. 

Pointing to volatility in the oil market, where prices have plummeted 33% in the past two years, Al Jaber called for massive spending on data centers and artificial intelligence, reckoning that investments from the global energy industry should reach $4 trillion a year. Near-term uncertainty is real, while long-term demand remains strong,” Al Jaber said. “Our response to meet that demand should focus on data, not the drama.”

Also in Abu Dhabi, Amos Hochstein, Managing Partner at TWG Global, and formerly Deputy  Assistant  to  the President and Senior  Advisor for Energy & Investment in the Biden administration, said in an interview with CNBC that the U.S. “needs billions” in power‑infrastructure investment to modernize and secure its energy systems.

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, meanwhile, met on Saturday with Doug Burgum, Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior and Chairman of the National Energy Dominance Council, who came to attend ADIPEC 2025. Burgum and Under Secretary of State Jacob Helberg took a tour of the UAE’s Upper Zakum oil field on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia and the International Olympic Committee have “mutually” ended a deal to jointly hold the Olympic Esports Games.

Instead, the IOC and the kingdom will pursue their own esports ambitions separately, Bloomberg reports.

The 12-year agreement, signed last year, was supposed to see Saudi Arabia host the inaugural Esports Olympics, a part of its ambition to be a global hub for gaming.

The kingdom held its second Esports World Cup over the summer, attracting more than 2,000 professional players from over 100 countries, and its Public Investment Fund has since signed a blockbuster $55 billion deal to take gaming company Electronic Arts private.

Humain, the AI startup backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, is planning to launch a voice-controlled computer operating system this week.

Humain 1 was created as an alternative to the mouse or touch-based systems, predominantly Windows and macOS, which have been used to operate personal computers in various forms since the 1980s.

“Rather than looking at icons where you click for discrete applications, now you (…) speak your intent,” Humain CEO Tareq Amin said at the Fortune Global Forum in Riyadh.

Humain has been testing the operating system internally for its own payroll and Human Resources systems, Reuters reports.

At the palatial Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh’s diplomatic quarter on Monday, Saudi Arabia’s ninth Future Investment Initiative conference kicked off with a soft launch billed as Day Zero.

Organizers of the annual event, underwritten by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, set the first day aside for what they described as “exclusive, invitation-only conclaves, convening the world’s foremost investors, CEOs, and policymakers for unscripted dialogue.”

On Tuesday, doors open at the neighboring King Abdulaziz International Convention Center, where more than 6,000 registrants will spend three days networking between speeches by government leaders and corporate titans.

Headliners at the conference include Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman, JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, Ruth Porat, of Alphabet and Google, Jane Fraser of Citi, Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates, Larry Fink of BlackRock, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone and Masayoshi Son of SoftBank.

Saudi leaders on the schedule include PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Amin H. Nasser, President and CEO of Aramco. As in previous years, whether and when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will speak is the conference’s biggest guessing game.

Among political figures coming from abroad are Syria’s new President, Ahmed Al-Sharaa; China’s Vice President Han Zheng; Shehbaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan; Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda, Rachel Reeves, the U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike.

Saudi developer Red Sea Global plans to launch its first overseas project in Italy, marking a major step in the company’s expansion beyond its luxury resorts along Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast.

Backed by the Public Investment Fund, RSG has been central to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 strategy to diversify the Saudi economy through high-end tourism.

“Our ambitions are beyond just the Saudi Arabian market,” CEO John Pagano said at the Reuters Next conference in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. “That’s done, done, done, done.” 

Pagano said that since its inception seven years ago, the company has awarded about 18,000 contracts for its domestic developments and plans to open 17 more resorts in Saudi Arabia by May 2026. The Italy project, for which Pagano provided few details, will build on RSG’s sustainability-focused model and is intended as a springboard for further international ventures in Europe and beyond.

In Paris, meanwhile, Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Farhan, the Saudi Minister of Culture and Governor of the Royal Commission for AlUla, met on Wednesday with French Culture Minister Rachida Dati. The two announced plans to create a Saudi section in the refurbished Pompidou Center, which is set to reopen in 2030. Under the agreement, Saudi Arabia’s Royal Commission for AlUla will contribute $58 million to support the museum’s renovation.

The partnership builds on broader Saudi-French collaboration to develop the Museum of Contemporary Art in AlUla, an ancient desert city in Saudi Arabia and UNESCO Heritage Site. A joint program running through 2030 will highlight modern and contemporary Saudi artists while encouraging collaboration between cultural professionals in both countries.