Head of Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) at Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) Mohammed Al Hardan
Doha: Amid shifting geopolitical alliances and ongoing economic uncertainty, the Qatar Economic Forum (QEF) 2025 explored the next phase of regional transformations and their implications for global markets.
The forum holds great significance for all stakeholders in the global economy and the Middle East region, which is witnessing unprecedented dynamism.
Addressing a panel discussion entitled, ‘AI Investment: Chasing Opportunity, Managing Risk,’ on the sidelines of QEF 2025 Powered by Bloomberg, Head of Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) at Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Mohammed Al Hardan highlighted the strides that Qatar has made in the field of AI by diversifying the sovereign fund’s investment portfolio and attracting companies, investors, and entrepreneurs. He emphasised Qatar’s efforts to become a regional and international hub for AI.
Al Hardan said that QIA is actively seeking investments in China, adding that they cannot rule out China, as it is a very significant market. Several US homegrown based companies have markets in China as it is part of their ecosystem. “When you look at robotics, the whole supply chain exists there so, understanding China is central to understanding investing in the tech universe in the US.”
Replying to a query about the opportunity for investing in the US, he said, with significant pledge to the US, "I think it reflects the opportunities that we see from a TMT perspective. AI as a theme continues to create a lot of opportunities."
The US has a large significant end market. “Whether you are looking at an innovation index or at the ecosystem, there’s a lot of support for innovation, research led universities and large R&D budgets. I think this ecosystem supports the opportunities in the US. There is one theme that keeps coming up, which is basically the talent that exists in the US but also the talent that it is able to attract.”
Al Hardan discussed the role of Qatar and the GCC as becoming a global AI hub and not just a regional one.
He explained that the added benefit that this region has is that it was relatively late to the cloud transition. "So we don’t have legacy systems and software to deal with, which actually creates fertile ground for this region to leapfrog Europe, leapfrog the US potentially."
“I think being a strategic partner with the US, there’s a big opportunity to play a much important and bigger role when it comes to compute. And we’ve kind of analysed where Qatar is situated and the country is very strategically located within one hour from the capitals within the GCC.
“And we’ve also looked at latency numbers from Qatar all the way to India. Qatar and the region can serve when it comes to the demands of compute,” he added Also speaking at the panel discussion, Kevin Gasque, Partner, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Greycroft said, “One of the interesting things that we find in contrast to Europe is the regulatory framework across the GCC countries. Even though it’s a smaller market, it makes it a little bit easier to navigate than Europe.
“You don’t have some of the regulatory complexities. It’s a very fast growing market as well, which is always an exciting opportunity for us. We are spending more and more time trying to find opportunities, in the region.”
Regarding Europe’s renewed appeal to some investors, Global Head of Credit and Asset Finance at Goldman Sachs Christina Minnis said that Europe has become a huge focus.
There will be massive investment in defence and security, but also in AI, healthcare, and research, noting the US and the Middle East as other key regions where Goldman sees significant opportunities.
