G42, the AI leader in the Middle East, has withdrawn from China's investment layout and will turn to the US market in the future

（图片来源：businesswire）

One of the UAE's AI giants confirmed the withdrawal of all investments in China.

Titanium Media App reported on February 12 that Group 42 Holding Ltd. (G42), a leading AI technology company in the Middle East, recently confirmed that the company is preparing to cut its business in China and will focus on investing in the AI industry layout in Western markets such as the United States, Israel, Germany, and the United Kingdom in the future.

Peng Xiao, CEO of G42, told Bloomberg: "All of our previous investments in China have been divested. Because of this, we no longer need any physical presence in China. ”

But Mr. Xiao also stressed that the company's decision to cut ties with Chinese companies was not easy.

G42 CEO 肖鹏（Source: G42）

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, G42 has more than 22,000 industry experts and engineers from more than 85 countries and regions. The company began by using technology to transform the oil and gas industry, to operating the National Genome Project, and now becoming the most important cloud computing infrastructure platform in the UAE, known as the "Alibaba + Tencent of the Middle East".

The importance of the G42 lies in the fact that the company has close ties to the Abu Dhabi royal family, and Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's national security adviser, the brother of UAE President Mohammed, and the top head of several Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds, is the chairman and controlling shareholder of the G42 – he has a fortune of $1.5 trillion.

In addition to Xiao Peng, other members of the G42 board of directors include Jassim Mohammed, Minister of Finance of Abu Dhabi, Khaledon Khalifa, Group CEO and Managing Director of Mubadala Investment Company, and Egon Durban, Co-CEO and Managing Partner of Silver Lake.

Up to now, G42's core business mainly has four sectors: digital infrastructure and cloud computing, artificial intelligence research, high-impact industry solutions and investment, involved in AI, cloud computing, biomedicine, medical and health and other fields, its existing AI companies Core42, AIQ, Presight, medical and health companies M42, Hayat Biotech, data center service provider Khazna, geospatial intelligence company Bayanat, etc.

However, as the United States attempts to restrict the development of China's high-tech industry, the G42's investment layout in China has been questioned by the US government's subordinate agencies.

In January, U.S. Congressman Mike Gallagher, chairman of the U.S.-China Select Committee on Strategic Competition, issued a letter to the Commerce Department citing his agency's concerns about the G42's close business ties with China and urging the Commerce Department to consider imposing trade restrictions on the company's relationship with China.

But G42 denied the report, saying it "has pursued a commercial strategy since 2022 and is fully aligned with our U.S. partners, rather than engaging with Chinese companies." However, the Biden administration is reportedly considering reviewing a number of overseas acquisitions, including the G42-owned Mubadala Investment Co. transactions.

As a result, G42 was forced to sell its investment business in the Chinese market on the news.

Xiao Peng said that in the future, the company will consider investing in the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel and other places. Previously, G42 announced a partnership with OpenAI in the United States to cooperate closely on AI technology in the United Arab Emirates and more Middle East regions, and invested in Cerebras Systems Inc in the United States to build an AI supercomputer facility to replace NVIDIA.

"In the future, the company will focus on 'doubling down' this partnership. Xiao Peng said.

According to the latest reports from Bloomberg and Reuters, OpenAI has entered into discussions with G42 to raise funds for a new AI chip company, with a total fundraising size of $7 trillion.

(This article was first published on the Titanium Media App, author: Lin Zhijia)