Brookfield, Qai form $20B AI infrastructure venture
Qatar's new AI company Qai and Brookfield to deploy compute locally and globally
#Qatar #infrastructure - Canadian alternative asset manager Brookfield Asset Management and Qai, the newly formed AI subsidiary of Qatar’s $524 billion sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority, have established a $20 billion joint venture to develop AI infrastructure in Qatar and select international markets. The partnership will create an integrated compute centre in Qatar, expanding regional access to high-performance computing capabilities. Brookfield will invest through its recently launched Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Fund, which targets up to $100 billion in global AI infrastructure investments.
SO WHAT? - The $20 billion partnership signals Qatar’s accelerated entry into the intensifying Gulf competition for AI infrastructure dominance, following slower initial investment compared to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. By partnering with Brookfield, which has estimated the global AI infrastructure build-out will require $7 trillion over the next decade, Qatar gains immediate access to international capital markets and infrastructure development expertise. The scale of commitment demonstrates Qatar’s determination to establish itself as a credible regional AI hub, leveraging its sovereign wealth fund’s substantial capital base to compete with more established neighbouring AI ecosystems whilst supporting Qatar National Vision 2030 economic diversification objectives.
Here are some key points from the announcement:
Brookfield Asset Management and Qai, the newly formed AI subsidiary of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), have formed a $20 billion joint venture to develop AI infrastructure in Qatar and select international markets.
The joint venture aims to position Qatar as a leading AI hub in the Middle East by creating an integrated compute centre that will expand regional access to high-performance computing capabilities required for training and deploying large-scale AI systems.
Brookfield will invest in the partnership through its recently launched Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Fund, which has set a target of up to $100 billion in global AI infrastructure investments to capitalise on the worldwide data centre expansion required to support AI development.
The announcement comes just one day after QIA revealed the formation of Qai as a national AI company chaired by Abdullah bin Hamad Al Misnad, Head of the Executive Office of Qatar’s Prime Minister and QIA advisory board member.
Qatar has ramped up digital transformation efforts and strategic investments in AI infrastructure over the past two years as part of its broader strategy to strengthen a knowledge-based economy aligned with Qatar National Vision 2030 economic diversification goals.
Brookfield has estimated that the global AI infrastructure build-out will require approximately $7 trillion in investment over the next decade, whilst a McKinsey report from April 2025 projected that $5.2 trillion in data centre investment alone will be needed by 2030 to meet worldwide AI demand.
ZOOM OUT - The Qai-Brookfield partnership follows Brookfield’s November 2025 launch of a $100 billion global AI infrastructure programme, anchored by the $10 billion Brookfield Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Fund formed with NVIDIA and Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority. That initiative secured $5 billion in initial capital commitments and focuses on AI factories, dedicated power solutions and compute infrastructure across the value chain. Qatar’s $20 billion joint venture represents the second major Gulf sovereign wealth fund partnership with Brookfield within two months. HE Governor of Qatar Central Bank (QCB) and Chairman of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani, met recently with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Brookfield Corporation, Bruce Flatt during a recent US visit.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
Read more about Qatar’s AI initiatives:
Qatar launches national AI company under QIA (Middle East AI News)
Qatar signs AI partnership with PwC and OpenAI (Middle East AI News)
AI could generate $11 billion for Qatar’s economy by 2030 (Middle East AI News)
Qatar launches Fanar sovereign large language model (Middle East AI News)
Qatar signs 5-year deal with Scale AI (Middle East AI News)
Great breakdown of how Gulf states are positioning themselves in the AI infrastructure race. The $20B commitment basically signals that Qatar's playing catchup against UAE and Saudi but with way smarter capital deployment by partnering with Brookfield instead of going solo. What makes this partnership clever is Brookfield's estimate of $7T needed globally means Qatar's getting in early while compute is still scarceand can probaly lock in strategic regional positioning before competiton intensifies.