Brookfield, Qatar team up on $20 billion AI investment venture
by Nicolas Parasie and Dinesh Nair
Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. and Qatar Investment Authority are teaming up on a $20 billion venture to invest in artificial-intelligence infrastructure, underscoring the escalating regional race for dominance in the sector.
New York-based Brookfield and Qai, a newly-formed subsidiary of Doha’s $524 billion wealth fund, will contribute capital to invest in AI infrastructure in Qatar and select international markets, according to a statement Tuesday.
Brookfield will invest through its newly launched AI fund, which aims to mobilize as much as $100 billion of investments globally and has already secured commitments from investors including the Kuwait Investment Authority.
The firm manages about $1 trillion in assets and has been among the most active foreign investors in the Gulf in recent years. “As our inaugural AI infrastructure investment in the Middle East, this partnership combines Qatar’s strategic vision with Brookfield’s global expertise,” Chief Executive Officer Bruce Flatt said.
Brookfield has estimated the global AI infrastructure build-out will require $7 trillion over the next decade. The biggest Middle Eastern wealth funds control trillions of dollars between them, making them key to these efforts.
Over the past few years, regional heavyweights have accelerated technology spending to lessen their reliance on traditional energy revenues. Through their sovereign wealth funds, they have been directing billions toward AI-related industries including chips, data centers and chatbots.
In addition, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Qatar’s wealthy neighbors, have set up multibillion-dollar funds to back AI startups while building national champions such as Abu Dhabi’s G42 and Riyadh’s Humain.
The QIA has been ramping up its own commitments, participating in the $13 billion funding round for Silicon Valley startup Anthropic and partnering with Blue Owl Capital Inc. on a $3 billion data-center venture. The joint venture with Brookfield “will advance Qatar’s National Vision 2030 and help build a diversified, innovation-based economy,” the fund’s CEO Mohammed Saif Al-Sowaidi said.
The deal also signals the latest step in Doha’s efforts to lure global investors, a push that has seen firms including BlackRock Inc.’s Global Infrastructure Partners and Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital plan offices in the city.
Unlike Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh — financial centers in their own right — Qatar is better known for its role as a careful mediator in tense geopolitical conflicts.
It now plans to use its wealth fund to start encouraging private equity and infrastructure funds to set up in the country using its leverage as an investor, Bloomberg News has reported.
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