Gulf

1. Trump’s Saudi demands
2. Gulf invests in US AI
3. New VC fund in Saudi
4. Abu Dhabi’s green push
5. Kuwait’s big oil find

LeBron gets in on the Saudi sports boom.

Trump sets $1 trillion target for Saudi ties

What’s a couple hundred billion dollars among friends? The week began with US President Donald Trump placing a $500 billion price tag on making his first foreign visit to Riyadh. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledged to boost investments and trade with the US to $600 billion during Trump’s presidency, while Saudi Arabia’s finance minister revealed the kingdom already holds over $770 billion in American investments. In his Davos address, Trump said that he’d ask the crown prince — “who’s a fantastic guy” — to round it up to $1 trillion.

Numbers aside, it’s clear that ties between Trump and the kingdom remain warm, even as the president chided Saudi Arabia and OPEC for failing to bring down oil prices. “Frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t do it before the election. That didn’t show a lot of love by them not doing it,” he said at Davos. Trump is also seeking Saudi cooperation on broader goals, including the normalization of ties with Israel that would further deepen security links between Washington and Riyadh.

Gulf investors back Trump’s AI program

The $500 billion Stargate project US President Donald Trump announced this week could be a catalyst for further Gulf investment in the US artificial intelligence sector. Abu Dhabi’s MGX — backed by Mubadala and G42 — is one of the founding partners in the program and committed $7 billion, according to The Information, alongside OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank. There are plenty of other interested parties in the Middle East with deep pockets: The Qatar Investment Authority told Bloomberg that AI data centers and other infrastructure “could be an opportunity for us.” Governments and companies are investing heavily in digital infrastructure and AI in the Gulf — Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, CEO of Mubadala, said “investors who embrace AI now will be best positioned to thrive.”

500 Global launches Saudi-based fund

Venture capital firm 500 Global is launching 500 MENA, a fund focused on investing in tech startups across the Middle East and North Africa. The fund, managed by executives based in Riyadh, is backed by two Public Investment Fund units and Saudi Venture Capital, according to a statement seen by Semafor. 500 MENA plans to deploy up to $10 million per investment in software-as-a-service, fintech, artificial intelligence, and similar companies in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The new fund comes amid a regional venture capital slump. Funding for startups in Saudi dropped 44% to $750 million last year, and 8% in the UAE, according to data analytics firm Magnitt. This led to a shift toward early-stage investments — almost half of last year’s funding rounds were less than $5 million and Series B deals hit a 5-year low.

Masdar plans to triple renewable capacity

Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy giant Masdar must add around 200 megawatts of capacity weekly until 2030 to meet its goal of building a 100-gigawatt global portfolio, Husain Al Meer, its director of Global Offshore Wind, told Semafor. The company is eyeing investments worldwide and across renewable technologies, with wind expected to account for 10 gigawatts of its portfolio in 2030 — up from just 1 gigawatt currently in operation. Al Meer said Masdar is using artificial intelligence to analyze bird migration patterns and optimize the position of its wind turbines to minimize environmental impact.

Kuwait keeps digging for oil

The barrels of crude found by Kuwait Oil Company in the offshore Al-Julaia field. Kuwaiti officials said the field also contains 600 billion cubic feet of gas. It is Kuwait’s second big offshore find in less than a year, following the 2.1-billion-barrel Al-Nokhaza field discovered in July. Even for a country with more than 100 billion barrels of reserves, these are major discoveries. But they could also cement Kuwait’s heavy dependency on oil and gas revenues, and encourage the country to worry less about reforms. While other Gulf oil producers are diversifying their economies and preparing for the energy transition, Kuwait is showing little sign of change.

Tech

• Salesforce is establishing a regional headquarters in Riyadh and partnering with IBM to create a joint AI “innovation center” in the city. The company has also committed to training 2,500 Saudis in AI skills by 2026.

Deals

• Kingdom Holding, owned by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, is interested in buying into TikTok, the Chinese social media platform recently banned in the US but which was then given a reprieve by Trump. — Al Arabiya
• Asyad Group, a logistics company owned by Oman’s sovereign wealth fund, plans to list shares in its shipping unit on the Muscat Stock Exchange. The offering could value Asyad Shipping Co. at $1 billion. — AGBI

LeBron James has caught the Saudi sports bug. This weekend, “Team AlUla Championed by LeBron James” will debut in the UIM (Union Internationale Motonautique) E1 World Championship, an all-electric raceboat series backed by the Public Investment Fund, during the 2025 season kickoff in Jeddah. James said it’s “exciting” to own a team in a “new type of global competition that’s revolutionizing water racing.”

Named after Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage site, Team AlUla features Canadian powerboat star Rusty Wyatt and UK rally racer Catie Munnings. E1 has also drawn icons like Tom Brady, Rafael Nadal, and Will Smith as team owners, aligning with Saudi Arabia’s strategy to partner with global sports figures as the kingdom boosts its sports sector to attract tourists and diversify its economy.

It may be more difficult than usual for the US Congress to pass legislation to streamline the process for building new energy infrastructure, a senior Democrat who has helped lead recent negotiations over the issue told Semafor’s Tim McDonnell.

President Donald Trump’s aim to speed up energy projects could collide with Democrats’ aversion to slashing environmental oversight, pushing a legislative deal “much further out,” a consultant and lobbyist said.