Kuwait Investment Authority Joins $30B Microsoft-Backed AI Venture

The Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), the country's sovereign wealth fund managing around $1 trillion in assets, has joined the AI Infrastructure Partnership (AIP), a $30 billion initiative backed by Microsoft, BlackRock, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, and Global Infrastructure Partners. KIA is the first non-founder financial anchor investor in the partnership, marking its first major AI investment under its new managing director, Sheikh Saoud Salem Al-Sabah, as Kuwait seeks to diversify its economy away from oil dependence. The AIP aims to raise up to $100 billion, including debt financing, to develop AI data centers and energy infrastructure globally, with technology partners such as NVIDIA, Elon Musk's xAI, and Cisco involved. Agreements with energy suppliers GE Vernova and NextEra Energy support the scaling of energy solutions for AI infrastructure. KIA's entry into the partnership underscores its long-term commitment to transformative infrastructure investments and positions it alongside other Gulf sovereign funds like Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which have also heavily invested in AI. The collaboration coincided with high-level visits between Kuwaiti and Emirati officials, signaling broader regional cooperation in technology and infrastructure sectors.