Qatar and Abu Dhabi back Musk’s xAI $20bn fundraising

• Funding round exceeds $15bn target
• QIA and MGX participate
• Cash for infrastructure and R&D

Qatari and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds have taken part in a $20 billion fundraising for Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI.

The Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi-based technology fund MGX joined investors including Nvidia, Cisco Investments and a number of US-based companies, according to an announcement from xAI.

The January round exceeded a $15 billion target.

The statement did not disclose how much each investor contributed.

Founded by billionaire technology entrepreneur Musk, xAI makes the Grok large language model, which is integrated with social media platform X.

The $20 billion Series E funding will be used on infrastructure, product deployment and research and development, xAI said.

Further reading:

• Elon Musk meets top officials on UAE visit
• Musk’s xAI in talks to lease Saudi data centre space
• Qatar joins other Gulf nations to advance AI

Founded in 2024 by Emirati technology company G42 and sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, MGX is designed to channel investments into AI tech and startups.

Gulf investors including the Qatar Investment Authority have previously participated in funding rounds for xAI. The QIA contributed $375 million towards xAI’s buyout of sister company X in 2022.

Musk’s business interests in the region include civil engineering in Dubai through The Boring Company, and with satellite connectivity company Starlink.