00:00Now, Abu Dhabi's MGX has raised nearly 50 billion dollars from regional and international investors to accelerate investments in AI
00:09infrastructure and technology.
00:11The fundraising underscores the Emirates' growing ambition to become a major force in financing in the global AI built out.
00:20Bloomberg's Nandu Nair joins us now to talk about the details.
00:24Nandu, good to have you on. Just how significant is it to have this 50 billion dollar investment, essentially?
00:32Well, it's significant for two reasons. Firstly, at 50 billion, like you mentioned in the lead up, it will be
00:39one of the biggest ever AI-focused fund globally.
00:43And it comes at a time when building out AI infrastructure and frontier models are getting increasingly expensive.
00:49And that gives Abu Dhabi and MGX a space at the table for participating in these big global deals.
00:56As we reported yesterday, Abu Dhabi and MGX are already starting to deploy some of the capital that they've already
01:01raised.
01:02Secondly, this also is sort of a turning point for Abu Dhabi because typically it's seen as an exporter of
01:08capital.
01:09And here, one of its main entities is going out and raising third-party capital.
01:13So it's tapped regional sovereign wealth funds as well as global pension funds and institutional investors, marking a significant shift
01:20in its strategy.
01:21Nandu, we've reported on these stories so many times. I actually miss reporting on them with your team.
01:27But the broader strategy of Abu Dhabi as this global backer of AI, where does MGX fall into that when
01:36it comes to this wider Emirates strategy?
01:38MGX is absolutely central to Abu Dhabi's broader strategy in AI, right?
01:42So chaired by Sheikh Tanun, backed by Mbadala, as well as G42, MGX has become one of the most aggressive
01:49investors in AI globally.
01:51Its investments span everything from frontier AI models like OpenAI and XAI to infrastructure partnerships with the likes of BlackRock
01:58and Microsoft.
01:59So it's front and center.
02:00It's set out this target of building out $100 billion of assets under management.
02:04And as Bloomberg reported in February, it's looking to deploy $10 billion annually for the coming years, right?
02:10So again, this comes at a perfect time. This sort of is a vehicle for Abu Dhabi's ambitions in the
02:15AI space.
02:16And how do these ambitions kind of compete with or compare with some other regional or countries in the region
02:22like Saudi Arabia?
02:23So everybody wants to have a part in this AI race.
02:26You mentioned Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has built out Humane, which again has significant investments in XAI.
02:32It likes in the neighboring Qatar. QIA has over the last 12 months become an increasingly important part of this
02:41AI race.
02:41It's got investments in Anthropik. It's got it's possibly invested in SpaceX.
02:46So there are lots of like broadening race in the region.
02:50Everybody wants to have a significant part in this race.
02:52Everybody knows that it's critical to their broader efforts to diversify beyond oil.
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