Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund to invest in space technology and AI this year

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company plans to invest significant capital in artificial intelligence and space technology this year, the company’s managing director announced on Wednesday, pledging to increase its sovereign wealth fund’s investment in the United States.

Sovereign wealth funds have the opportunity and responsibility to transform from asset investors to enablers of global progress, Khaldoon Mubarak told an investor conference in Abu Dhabi.

“We plan to increase our investments in the US market and deepen our strategic and forward-looking investment products in the UK, Europe and France,” he said.

Mubarak said Mubadala, which has $276 billion in assets under management, also plans to invest in healthcare, digital infrastructure and finance this year, increasing its long-term allocation to Asia.

“We are in the business of driving progress and investing in solutions to global challenges,” he said.

Mubarak said government-managed funds are also scaling up to participate in Asia’s long-term and dynamic markets, as sovereign funds focus on megatrends and global demographic trends.

“We have increased our long-term allocation to Asia, including Japan, China, South Korea and, of course, India,” he said.

President Mubarak did not say how much capital Mubadala would inject into countries such as the United States and China this year.

The increase in long-term allocations to Asia suggests that Mr. Mubadala believes the slowdown in China’s economy will not continue and that there will be significant investment opportunities in the country over the long term.

Although the UAE and China have close political and economic ties, President Mubarak said in his speech that investments are based on the attractiveness of investment opportunities rather than geopolitics.

The U.S. government is increasingly concerned about China’s partnership with the Gulf region, fearing that sensitive U.S. technology could be leaked. The United States is a security partner in the Gulf.

Mubadala and Goldman Sachs announced this week that they have agreed to a $1 billion private credit partnership to invest in the Asia-Pacific region. The United States and its allies have sought to counter China’s largely economic influence in the region.