EQT in Talks With UAE and Saudi Sovereign Investors on Joint AI Infrastructure Deals

The firm has about $400 billion in assets and has raised money from Gulf investors for decades. It now wants to invest in the region as well. Salata said the UAE and Saudi Arabia were "the two big areas that we're working on right now" in its co-investment discussions with sovereign funds.

He said the firm was most interested in data infrastructure and data centres, where EQT has one of the largest global footprints. According to The National, EQT plans to grow its Gulf AI infrastructure presence through its portfolio company EdgeConneX, which owns more than 106 data centres across 25 countries. EQT manages more than $100 billion in digital and energy assets.

Salata did not name specific partners or projects. He said "there are many conversations that are ongoing right now with potential partners" in the UAE and elsewhere in the region.

Why Investors Are Looking at the Gulf

Salata described AI infrastructure as a capital-constrained sector where the main limits are physical: chips, energy and data centres. He argued that strong demand for compute supports investment in power generation and data infrastructure, particularly by providers of long-term capital that can invest over a 15-year horizon.

EQT is one of several global investors pursuing the Gulf's AI build-out. The National pointed to the planned five-gigawatt UAE-US AI campus in Abu Dhabi, which includes the 1GW Stargate UAE cluster, and to Saudi Arabia's $100 billion Project Transcendence and the Public Investment Fund's AI company Humain. Qatar Investment Authority has launched Qai, a $20 billion AI infrastructure partnership. Citing International Monetary Fund estimates, the newspaper said the three Gulf states have announced AI investment plans worth $120 billion since last year, more than 5 per cent of their gross domestic product.

Other large investors have already done deals in the region. Blackstone has agreed a $3 billion deal with Humain, and Microsoft has committed more than $10 billion to data centres and related infrastructure in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, The National reported.

Deepening Ties With Abu Dhabi Funds

In September EQT opened an office at Abu Dhabi Global Market, its first in the Middle East. BlackRock, State Street, Blackstone, PGIM, Nuveen and Capital Group already have offices there.

Salata called the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority "one of our most important partners". He said Adia both invests in EQT funds and co-invests with the firm directly. In June, Adia and Mubadala joined EQT's £9.5 billion bid for UK testing company Intertek Group. Mubadala has also co-invested with EQT in deals including the 2022 acquisition of Envirotainer, and in 2025 it took a $600 million stake in Nord Anglia Education.

Forty EQT portfolio companies already operate in the Gulf. Salata said the firm will start with those companies, and he expects more regional sovereign money to flow into them over time.

Why It Matters

Gulf sovereign funds have long sent capital abroad as limited partners in Western private equity firms. EQT's comments point to a shift in that relationship: global firms now want to invest alongside these funds in Gulf assets, with data centres and power at the centre. Any joint vehicle with Abu Dhabi or Riyadh would put EdgeConneX up against Khazna, G42 and Humain, which are already building at scale.