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🔥 The Gulf Enters the AI Infra Race

The U.S. just locked in two heavyweight AI infrastructure deals with the UAE and Saudi Arabia—and the implications are seismic.

This isn’t about giving away compute. It’s about unleashing capital, unlocking power, and re-cementing America’s position at the heart of global AI. These pacts are a shot of adrenaline to the infrastructure bloodstream—and a preemptive strike against geopolitical drift toward China.

What Just Happened?

Two landmark U.S. deals with the Middle East just redefined the global AI landscape. First, a $600 billion AI and economic partnership with Saudi Arabia. Second, a 5-gigawatt AI datacenter campus in the UAE, spearheaded by G42. Together, they mark a turning point in the alignment of compute, capital, and strategy—placing the Middle East in a front-row seat to America’s AI expansion. These deals unlock a trillion-dollar flywheel of sovereign wealth, accelerating hyperscaler deployments both in the Gulf and back on U.S. soil. AI labs benefit, GPU makers thrive, and perhaps most critically, the overloaded U.S. power grid finally catches a breather. This is how you break the datacenter bottleneck: with aligned capital, energy abundance, and speed of execution.

Infrastructure as Diplomacy

These aren’t just commercial moves—they’re diplomatic ones. The UAE’s G42 now holds an annual quota of 500,000 of Nvidia’s highest-end GPUs, with Microsoft already at the front of the line. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s new AI outfit, HUMAIN, is assembling $20 billion worth of AMD and Nvidia hardware and investing another $5 billion into AWS-backed GenAI zones. Cisco also just announced a collaboration with Saudi enterprises to boost AI infrastructure. What’s more, the capital isn’t just flowing into the Middle East—it's coming back around. G42, HUMAIN, and DataVolt are collectively investing billions into U.S.-based datacenters, reinforcing the reciprocal nature of this partnership.

The Middle East: AI’s New Power Base

The numbers are staggering. Middle Eastern datacenter capacity is expected to exceed 6 gigawatts by 2030—a forecast many consider conservative. G42 is already active in Texas and New York. HUMAIN is kicking off with 18,000 GB300s in 2026, scaling to over a gigawatt of compute capacity in the years that follow. While Europe struggles with permitting delays, the Gulf is building at breakneck speed, leveraging solar, gas, and nuclear to fuel the AI revolution.

As America runs into power and land constraints, the Middle East isn’t stepping in to compete—it’s stepping up to amplify. This strategic shift alleviates domestic infrastructure pressure, accelerates the pace of AI deployments, and ensures key allies are locked in before rivals like China can react.

This isn’t just a regional development—it’s a reconfiguration of the global AI stack. The U.S. has effectively extended its industrial strategy by tapping into sovereign capital and energy-rich partnerships abroad.

The result: new GPU pipelines, strategic redundancy, and no loss of control. The Middle East is no longer just an energy powerhouse—it’s now an essential player in America’s AI future.

//WHAT’S NEXT

💵Bay Area Startups Collectively Secured $743M this week

$743M went to Bay Area startups this week, the second week in a row with just two megadeals - $135M to fintech (World) and $100M to AI (LMArena). Fintech and vertical AI companies received the bulk of the fundings this month, after the $100M to AI. The total brought the month-to-date total to $3.66B. While that's less than half of the May 2024's full month, last year's total had more than $4B in fourteen megadeals, mostly to AI and biotech.

IPO Watch: Hinge Health closed its first day of trading at $37.56, up about 17% over the $32 IPO price it set the previous day. That puts their capitalization at ~ $3B, less than half their $6.2B valuation from their last funding round, a Series E in October 2021. They join Reddit and ServiceTitan (not an SV company), all three with successful but down-round IPOs - that is, their IPOs priced lower than their last private valuation. Those down-round IPOs now seem more acceptable than previously when taken in the context of the 2020-2021 frothy valuations.

Hinge Health makes the first crack in the IPO window for 2025. Local companies Omada Health, Chime (fintech) and Cerebras Systems (AI) have all indicated they are moving towards IPOs in the near future, and we'll be watching to see which of them goes first..

Follow us on LinkedIn to stay on top of what's happening in 2025 in startup fundings, M&A and IPOs, VC fundraising plus new executive hires & investor moves.

Early Stage:

• LMArena closed a $100M Seed, an open platform that enables developers, researchers, and users to compare model outputs, uncover performance differences, and advance the reliability of AI systems.

• Miter closed a $23M Series A, a human capital management (HCM), field operations, and expense management platform built for contractors.

• Coworker.ai closed a $13M Seed, the world's first general-purpose AI teammate that can research, plan, and execute complex work like an experienced colleague.

• Compound Eye closed a $12.8M Series A, enables machines to understand their surroundings in 3D and in real time, using only passive sensors like cameras.

• GrowthX AI closed a $12M Series A, building end-to-end growth engines with expert-guided AI workflows that extend from content to distribution to conversion.

Growth Stage:

• World closed a $135M Series unknown, building the world's largest identity and financial network to serve as a public utility, giving ownership to everyone.

• Strava closed a $75M Series unknown, the app for active people - it’s more than tracking workouts—it’s where people make progress together, from new habits to new personal bests.

• Monarch Money closed a $75M Series B, the most comprehensive platform for managing your personal finances.

• Datahub closed a $35M Series B, an AI & Data Context Platform that provides real-time context of AI and data assets with best-in-class scalability and extensibility.

• Arine closed a $25M Series B, a software platform that seamlessly integrates cutting-edge AI, clinical expertise, and advanced data analytics to deliver medication-based care interventions at the population level.

Exploring The Opportunties with AI

Meet Serena Yu—an dynamic force shaping the future of AI from the heart of the Bay Area. With a background in Business Administration from San Francisco State University and a career spanning sales leadership, marketing strategy, and startup operations, Serena is the go-to operator for turning vision into traction. She’s been Chief of Staff at 2468 Ventures, a strategic advisor at Ware AI, and the founder of Serenity Media & Marketing—where she helps deep-tech brands craft their voice and move markets.

But Serena isn’t just behind the scenes—she’s on the mic, too. As host of Explore the Opportunities with AI, Serena dives deep with AI’s top thinkers, turning technical nuance into accessible insights through real, human stories. Her podcast is a launchpad for builders, operators, and the AI-curious to navigate this fast-moving ecosystem with confidence and clarity.

Whether you’re scaling your first model or scouting your next go-to-market move, Serena is proof that the right voice can open the right doors. Tap in, tune in, and get inspired.

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Our mission is to provide an insider's view of Silicon Valley's undercurrents – insights often overlooked by mainstream sources. While many newsletters offer broad market overviews, we focus on delivering a unique, in-depth understanding of the local ecosystem. We share behind-the-scenes conversations, introduce key players we meet at events, and offer exclusive insights.

Your feedback is crucial in helping us refine our content and maintain the newsletter's value for you and your fellow readers. We welcome your suggestions on how we can improve our offering. [email protected] 

Logan Lemery
Head of Content // Team Ignite

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