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Doha is steadily cementing its position as a competitive player in the global AI and technology race, supported by strategic investments from the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), according to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).These include the establishment of a $3bn global platform with Blue Owl Capital to accelerate international AI and cloud infrastructure expansion, as well as QIA’s participation in Anthropic’s $13bn funding round, BCG said in its report presented at the Mobile World Congress, which concluded Wednesday.These initiatives underscore Qatar’s commitment to advancing its digital capabilities and align closely with the ambitions of the Qatar Digital Vision 2030, it said in the report “AI Data Centers: An Opportunity in the Middle East”.“Qatar’s digital ambition is rapidly taking shape, driven by decisive leadership and a deep commitment to innovation. In line with Qatar National Vision 2030 and Qatar’s Third National Development Strategy, the country is harnessing AI and emerging technologies to cement its role as a competitive force in the global digital economy," said Harold Haddad, managing director and senior partner.The report revealed that the Middle East is rapidly positioning the region as a rising global nexus for AI data centre investment and innovation. As global demand for AI infrastructure accelerates, with data centre power needs projected to grow from 86GW (Gigawatt) in 2025 to 198GW by 2030, BCG finds that the Middle East has a uniquely competitive advantage in supplying scalable, cost-efficient AI compute capacity.Highlighting that the Middle East is not merely participating in the global AI infrastructure race; it is fast emerging as a critical new hub of AI data centre development; it said the region benefits from distinctive structural advantages.Its strategic geography places it within a 2,000-mile radius of over 3bn people, enabling it to serve Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Global South with non-latency-sensitive AI inferencing at scale.Competitive cost structures, including up to 50% lower leasing rates, low power tariffs, and advanced cooling systems adopted by regional operators, significantly reduce the total cost of ownership, BCG said, adding meanwhile, markets such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia continue to accelerate time-to-market for new data centres through fast-track development, dedicated investment teams, and special economic zone clusters such as Masdar City’s Stargate Campus."This momentum is reinforced by the region’s expansive land availability, scalable power ecosystems, and the planned ~720Tbps Fibre in the Gulf (FIG) submarine cable project," it said.Thibault Werlé, managing director and partner at BCG said the Middle East is undergoing a pivotal transformation as it positions itself to become a global hub for AI infrastructure."With strategic investments, progressive digital policies, and ambitious national visions across Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, the region is building the foundation for scalable, next-generation AI compute," he added.The report outlines major national initiatives shaping the Middle East’s AI infrastructure landscape. Saudi Arabia has launched HUMAIN with a targeted 1.9GW AI data centre capacity, along with partnerships with NVIDIA, AMD, AWS, DataVolt, and Groq to develop multi-hundred-megawatt AI campuses, including the world’s largest AI compute centre.The UAE is advancing a 5GW AI campus in Abu Dhabi under the US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership and is importing 500,000 GPUs for regional and US partners, supported by Microsoft’s $15.2bn AI and cloud infrastructure investment."Qatar’s strategic investments complement these national efforts and reinforce a GCC-wide push toward establishing a global AI compute corridor," the report said.With its strategic geography, favourable economics, and ambitious national digital agendas, the Middle East is uniquely poised to emerge as a global AI data centre powerhouse — particularly for regions requiring scalable and cost-efficient AI compute such as the Global South. 

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the country's sovereign wealth fund, has invested in d-Matrix, a pioneer in generative AI (artificial intelligence) inference for data centres.Valued at $2bn and bringing the total raised to date to $450mn, d-Matrix will use the new capital to advance their roadmap, accelerate global expansion and support multiple large-scale deployments of the world’s highest performing, most efficient data centre inference platform for hyperscalers, enterprise, and sovereign customers.The oversubscribed round attracted leading investment firms across Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East. The funding was co-led by a global consortium including BullhoundCapital, Triatomic Capital, and Temasek, and welcomed new investors including QIA and EDBI, alongside follow-on participation from M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund, as well as Mirae Asset, Industry Ventures, and Nautilus Venture Partners.d-Matrix's full-stack inference platform combines breakthrough compute-memory integration, high-speed networking, and inference-optimised software to deliver 10× faster performance, 3× lower cost, and 3–5× better energy efficiency than GPU-based systems.This step-change in performance and efficiency directly addresses growing AI sustainability challenges. By enabling one data centre to handle the workload of ten, d-Matrix offers a clear path to reducing global data centre energy consumption while enabling enterprises to deliver cost-efficient, profitable AI services without compromise.“From day one, d-Matrix has been uniquely focused on inference. When we started d-Matrix six years ago, training was seen as AI’s biggest challenge, but we knew that a new set of challenges would be coming soon,” said Sid Sheth, chief executive officer and co-founder of d-Matrix.“We predicted that when trained models needed to run continuously at scale, the infrastructure wouldn't be ready. We've spent the last six years building the solution: a fundamentally new architecture that enables AI to operate everywhere, all the time. This funding validates that vision as the industry enters the Age of AI Inference,” he added.Investor confidence reflects d-Matrix’s differentiated technology, rapid customer growth, and expanding network of global partners — including the recently announced d-Matrix SquadRack open standards-based reference architecture with Arista, Broadcom, and Supermicro.A strong product roadmap featuring 3D memory-stacking innovations and a customer-centric go-to-market strategy further establishes d-Matrix as a cornerstone of the new AI infrastructure stack.

The first cohort from the venture studio - backed by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Qatar Development Bank (QDB) and Utopia Capital Management - is expected before the end of this year, according to a top official of QDB."We look forward to welcoming the first cohort from Qatar before the end of this year," QDB chief executive officer Abdulrahman bin Hesham al-Sowaidi told the seventh edition of Investment Forum 2025, organised by QDB in association with Young Entrepreneurs Club.Developing Qatar's venture capital ecosystem, in partnership with a fund-of-fund programme launched by QIA, the QDB had collaborated with Utopia Capital Management to establish the first venture studio of Qatar, operated by A-typical Ventures.Unveiled at the Web Summit 2025, the venture studio is actively seeking the region's entrepreneurs looking to scale innovations and drive economic diversification across sectors such as fintech, healthtech, e-commerce, logistics and mobility, and climatetech.The studio will act as a magnet for entrepreneurs and investors across the region, while nurturing Qataris' startup with skills and capital, al-Sowaidi said."This long-term partnership is a testament to our commitment to advancing the VC (venture capital) ecosystem through private sector enablement. This partnership is already in action," he said, adding the region is witnessing an increasing maturity in the financial ecosystem that encourages startup investments, even amidst global headwinds.A-typical Ventures will enable pre-seed, seed and pre-series A founders across the GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council), Levant, Pakistan and Turkiye to refine their business models, optimise their go-to-market strategies, and unlock powerful growth opportunities.The QIA's investment marks one of the first deployments of capital from its 'fund-of-funds' programme, which aims to develop a strong start-up and venture capital ecosystem in Qatar and attract leading venture capital funds and entrepreneurs to the region.QDB is co-building the next generation of game-changing ventures as it collaborates with Utopia and the Qatari partners, marking a bold step toward reshaping the startup landscape.By merging strategic investment with hands-on venture-building expertise, QDB aims to empower high-potential startups in Qatar and across the Middle East, helping them scale faster, break into new markets, and drive real economic impact.Mohammed al-Emadi, QDB executive director of Incubation and VC Investment, said the venture studio would be catering to the entire Mena region."Our alignment and agreement with Utopia is that we don't want to have a centre that's only dedicated for single market. We want a Mena venture studio. And the reason is that we want to serve our 2030 vision by building a knowledge-based economy. We believe that we need to draw the talents from Qatar, but we also need to attract talents to the region and to Qatar specifically," he added.

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has invested in Anthropic, a leading AI safety and research company, and creators of the Claude family of AI models.Anthropic’s Series F fundraise of $13bn, led by ICONIQ, brings Anthropic’s valuation at $183bn post-money and was co-led by Fidelity Management & Research Company and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The investment reflects Anthropic’s unprecedented velocity and reinforces its position as the leading intelligence platform for enterprises, developers, and power users.The QIA joins significant investors in this round including Altimeter, Baillie Gifford, BlackRock, Blackstone, Coatue, D1 Capital, General Atlantic, General Catalyst, GIC, Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Insight Partners, Jane Street, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc and T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc, TPG, WCM Investment Management, and XN.Chief Financial Officer of Anthropic Krishna Rao said: “From Fortune 500 companies to AI-native startups, our customers rely on Anthropic’s frontier models and platform products for their most important, mission-critical work.” “We are seeing exponential growth in demand across our entire customer base. This financing demonstrates investors’ extraordinary confidence in our financial performance and the strength of their collaboration with us to continue fuelling our unprecedented growth.”The Series F investment will expand Anthropic’s capacity to meet growing enterprise demand, deepen the company’s safety research, and support international expansion as Anthropic continues building reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is “positioning” Qatar not just as an energy powerhouse but as a strategic player in the global minerals market, noted Michael Finch, Head of Strategic Initiatives at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.“This is a long-term strategy that underpins economic diversification and supply chain security,” Finch noted at Al-Attiyah Foundation podcast, which was hosted by Stephen Cole.QIA, which is Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, has become a leading international investor in the sector.It is the largest institutional shareholder in commodities giant Glencore, holding an 8%-9% stake, and has recently invested in companies like TechMet and Rainbow Rare Earths, strengthening ties with supply chains vital for the energy transitionIn a world racing toward decarbonisation, the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) are standing at the precipice of historic transformation. Long defined by oil and gas wealth, the region is now seeking to secure its place in a post-hydrocarbon future.Finch emphasised that Mena nations are not merely reacting to global change but actively reshaping their economies for the decades ahead.Still, hydrocarbons represent around 40% of Saudi Arabia’s GDP (Gulf International Forum, 2024), over 60% of Qatar’s GDP (World Bank, 2023), and roughly a quarter of the UAE’s GDP (Reuters/IMF, 2024).That dependence underscores the urgency of diversification. “There’s a real economic imperative,” Finch explained. “This is not simply about risk management — it’s a lucrative opportunity.”Across the region, sovereign wealth funds hold an estimated $5tn in assets under management, increasingly channelled into mining, refining, and clean energy infrastructure. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and other state-backed vehicles are similarly making bold bets, including downstream ventures in electric vehicles and overseas acquisitions of mineral assets.The strategy is characterised by patience and foresight, with funds pursuing multi-decade returns tied to energy transition industries rather than short-term profit.While Mena is unlikely to rival South America or Australia in sheer geological endowment, the region holds valuable reserves. Morocco stands out as a global leader in phosphate resources, critical for lithium iron phosphate battery cathodes, while Saudi Arabia is advancing rapidly in copper, gold, and rare earth elements. New extraction technologies, such as Direct Lithium Extraction, could also unlock value from the region’s oilfield brines — leveraging existing hydrocarbon infrastructure for future supply chains.The conversation also touched on electric vehicle adoption in Mena, which remains at an early stage with penetration generally under 1% across the region, though the UAE leads at around 3% new car sales (Bain & Company, 2024).Still, growth targets are ambitious: Morocco aims to expand EV production capacity to 100,000 vehicles by 2025 (CleanTechnica, 2024), while Saudi Arabia has set a goal of producing 500,000 EVs annually by 2030 (Construction Week Saudi, 2024).Finch concluded: “The energy transition is not a threat to the region — it is an opportunity. With resources, capital, and expertise, Mena can become a cornerstone of the future global energy system”.“For Qatar, and for the wider region, the era of critical minerals is not just a hedge against the decline of oil — it is the foundation of a new energy economy,” he added.