Qatar sets up national AI firm as a subsidiary of its $524 billion sovereign wealth fund

Qatar has launched Qai, a new AI development and investment firm as a subsidiary of its $524 billion sovereign wealth fund. The new company is meant to develop and invest in artificial intelligence.

According to the statement, Qai will invest in AI infrastructure in Qatar and globally, as well as provide “high-performance computing and a connected suite of tools.”

Abdulla Al-Misnad, an official in Qatar’s prime minister’s office and a board director of Doha Venture Capital, will serve as chair of the country’s new AI firm. He said Qai will focus on developing “trusted” AI systems. 

“We need to be able to give the individuals, the corporates, the different users all the tools they need in order to able to deploy AI and feel that they trust what AI is doing,” he added. 

Qai takes a different approach from the US AI firms

According to Abdulla Al-Misnad, Qatar’s new firm won’t be developing large-language models, such as Google’s Gemini. Instead, he said it will work on evaluating and commercializing these models and frontier tech like autonomous agents, computer systems designed to perform a range of tasks.  

“We’re thinking one, two, three years down the line. That’s where you get value out of AI,” Al-Misnad stated.

Besides the US and China, few countries have managed to create the leading AI models that power chatbots and other services. Qatar has taken a more measured approach. Its wealth fund has recently backed several Silicon Valley startups, including participating in the $13 billion round for AI lab Anthropic in September.

Additionally, Qatar signed a strategic deal with PwC Middle East and OpenAI to advance AI adoption, boost productivity, and build a stronger innovation ecosystem for government and startups. OpenAI’s Farouk Hamzawi stated that the opportunity to support Qatar’s technological and economic priorities using advanced AI models.

Recently, Qatar’s finance minister stated that AI would be a significant part of planned Qatari investments in the US. “I would say most of the (QIA investment) will be in technology and AI because we see the growth in this field, and it is going to be rewarding,” Ali Ahmed Al-Kuwari stated.

“Now we see the huge growth in the US economy is coming from technology and AI, and we believe this is one area we are going to focus on,” he added. 

Qatar’s need for the Nvidia chips amidst China tensions

The Middle East has become a magnet for tech giants, such as OpenAI and Microsoft Corp., looking to tap the region’s ample funds and cheap energy for computing resources. 

Oil-rich Gulf states are investing heavily in tech. This is part of broader plans to diversify economies. More recently, that money has moved to capitalize on the global frenzy around AI services like ChatGPT and the data centers, chips, and energy used to sustain them. 

Both the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have launched multibillion-dollar funds to invest in AI startups and established their own national AI champions, G42 in Abu Dhabi and Humain in Riyadh. 

As reported by Cryptopolitan, in November, the US approved the sale of tens of thousands of advanced AI chips to the UAE’s G42 and Saudi Arabia’s Humain. This move overlooked the political concerns about the tech potentially making its way to China. 

Qatar is not any different. Its sovereign wealth fund is also exploring investment opportunities in China while exercising caution to maintain its relationship with the US. Mohammed Al-Hardan, head of technology, media, and telecommunications at the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), said, “We can’t discount China. It is a very significant market.”

Meanwhile, Qatar is working on getting licenses to import the most advanced semiconductors from companies like Nvidia Corp. and AMD.