Intelligence, diplomacy and financial power
Journalist Jack Shenker's investigations have repeatedly brought him back to Tahnoon, a figure the Guardian describes as little known beyond the UAE despite his extensive authority. Alongside his financial interests, he leads the country's security services and ranks among the Middle East's most influential diplomats. In the podcast, Annie Kelly asks what he intends to do with that concentration of power in a country the Guardian describes as among the world's most politically authoritarian.
His financial responsibilities expanded in 2023, when he became chairman of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the UAE's largest sovereign wealth fund. The appointment came weeks before his nephew Sheikh Khaled was named crown prince. According to WIRED, Tahnoon had agreed to abandon his own ambition to become crown prince in return for extensive control over the country's financial resources.
His reach also extends across Abu Dhabi's stock market. Bloomberg Markets, in reporting carried by NDTV Profit, found that companies belonging to Tahnoon or under his oversight accounted for at least 65% of the benchmark FTSE ADX General Index's weighting as of March 31. His conglomerate International Holding Co., or IHC, had a valuation of nearly $240 billion after rising more than 400-fold since 2019.
G42's origins and US connections
One of Tahnoon's main AI businesses is G42, the Abu Dhabi AI and cloud conglomerate he chairs. Founded in 2018, it absorbed much of the staff and assets of DarkMatter, which operated the UAE's Project Raven cyberespionage program, according to WIRED.
Microsoft acquired a minority stake in G42 through a $1.5 billion investment in April 2024. Microsoft President Brad Smith also joined G42's board.
A separate connection to the United States involved Aryam Investment, a Tahnoon-backed company. CNBC, relaying a Wall Street Journal report on February 1, 2026, said Aryam bought a 49% stake worth about $500 million in the Trump family's World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency venture. Months after that purchase, the United States agreed to provide the UAE with access to 500,000 of America's most advanced AI chips annually. Under the agreement, one-fifth of the chips would go to G42.
MGX's investments and infrastructure plans
Tahnoon also chairs MGX, an Abu Dhabi AI investment firm within his sovereign wealth portfolio. In September 2024, Abu Dhabi announced plans for MGX to join BlackRock, Microsoft and Global Infrastructure Partners in investing more than $100 billion. The planned investments included a network of data centers and power plants across the United States, according to WIRED.
By MGX's second board meeting of 2026, on May 25, the firm had participated as a co-lead in OpenAI's $122 billion funding round. The Abu Dhabi Media Office described it as MGX's fifth follow-on investment in OpenAI. MGX had also participated in Isomorphic Labs' $2.1 billion Series B round.
At that meeting, MGX said its portfolio companies' contracted AI infrastructure capacity was projected to exceed 8 GW by the end of 2026.
