UAE AI Infrastructure Accounted For 29 Percent Of Greenfield FDI Capital Spending

UAE Investment Minister Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi said communications projects including data centres and AI infrastructure accounted for 29 percent of greenfield FDI capital expenditure in 2025.

The ministry report puts AI infrastructure near the centre of the UAE's foreign investment story.

Alsuwaidi said in statements to WAM at the report launch that inward foreign direct investment reached $48.3 billion in 2025.

He said the UAE advanced to ninth place among global FDI destinations and exceeded the $37 billion interim target set for 2025.

National Investment Strategy 2031 Sets A $65 Billion Annual FDI Target

The National Investment Strategy 2031 sets a goal of raising annual inward FDI inflows to AED240 billion, or $65 billion, by 2031, according to Alsuwaidi.

He also said the strategy targets AED2.2 trillion, or $600 billion, in FDI stock by 2031.

Alsuwaidi said the 2025 inflow total had reached about three quarters of the annual 2031 target.

Alsuwaidi also said progress against the stock target stood at 53 percent.

The figures frame the current investment push as a progress check against a named national strategy rather than only a one-year capital inflow number.

The minister also said domestic direct investment estimates range from $100 billion to $119 billion, about 2.5 times annual inward FDI inflows.

Alsuwaidi said that domestic capital base reflected investor confidence in the UAE policy environment, infrastructure and knowledge base.

Data Centres And Cloud Regions Form Part Of The Investment Base

Alsuwaidi said artificial intelligence and advanced technology are priority sectors under the National Investment Strategy 2031.

He said the ministry is working on ecosystems that combine computing infrastructure, research capacity and talent pipelines.

Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence was one institution named in that effort.

The data-centre numbers give the AI investment theme a physical infrastructure layer.

Alsuwaidi said growth was supported by cloud regions in the UAE from the world's three largest cloud computing providers and by a data-centre base with total capacity exceeding 250 megawatts.

He also said another 500 megawatts is under development.

Those figures put compute infrastructure beside broader FDI targets.

They also keep the evidence source-bound: the statement identifies capacity and development pipeline, but it does not list individual facilities, tenants or financing packages for the data-centre expansion.

Automotive Manufacturing Led Greenfield Capital Spending

AI infrastructure was not the largest greenfield capital-expenditure sector in the minister's account.

Alsuwaidi said automotive manufacturing ranked first among sectors attracting greenfield FDI by capital expenditure, accounting for more than 30 percent of total capital spending.

He said communications followed with 29 percent, driven by data-centre and AI infrastructure investment.

The real estate sector recorded $1.9 billion of capital expenditure, which he said represented 71 percent year-on-year growth, while transportation and storage ranked fourth among greenfield capital-expenditure sectors.

Alsuwaidi said the $48.3 billion FDI total included manufacturing, communications infrastructure, property and logistics activity.

Each sector still depends on project-level execution that was not fully detailed in the public remarks.

UAE Outward FDI Reached $63.4 Billion In 2025

Alsuwaidi also said the UAE is now a major outward investor.

Outward FDI reached $63.4 billion in 2025, while outward FDI stock stood at $402.7 billion by the end of the year, according to his remarks.

He said that outward FDI stock was larger than inward FDI stock, making the UAE a net capital exporter in his account.

He also said UAE outbound M&A reached $18.2 billion in 2025, spread across 117 transactions, with major national institutions and private-sector companies involved.

The report did not disclose named data-centre projects, named cloud operators, project-level financing terms, delivery dates for the additional 500 megawatts, or customer commitments tied to the UAE's AI infrastructure investment pipeline.