G42 makes it to TIME's 100 most influential companies' list
A. SREENIVASA REDDY (ABU DHABI)G42, the UAE-based artificial intelligence leader, has made it to the TIME100 Most Influential Companies list. Featured under the 'Innovators' category and described as a 'Rising AI Power', G42 has been acknowledged for its extraordinary contributions to global AI infrastructure and strategy in the fifth edition of the annual awards.The TIME100 list, curated annually by TIME editors and correspondents, highlights companies across sectors that are shaping the future through innovation, ambition, and impact. G42 joins a select group that includes global giants such as OpenAI, Meta, Amazon, Huawei, ByteDance, Palantir, BlackRock, SpaceX, Nintendo, and Berkshire Hathaway.From the MENA region, only two companies made it to the list this year — G42 and Saudi Arabia's Diriyah Company, which is leading the transformation of the historic Diriyah district into a cultural and heritage hub under Vision 2030.G42 was especially spotlighted for spearheading the world's largest AI infrastructure project outside the United States — a 10-square-mile AI campus in Abu Dhabi, launched in May 2025 in the presence of UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and US President Donald Trump. Developed in collaboration with leading US companies such as OpenAI, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, SoftBank, and Nvidia, the AI campus will include supercomputers, data centres with 5-gigawatt capacity, a science park, and facilities powered by nuclear, solar, and gas sources.'This campus is just one G42 initiative supporting the UAE's 2031 AI superpower goal,' TIME noted. The project forms part of the broader US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership, which aims to deepen bilateral cooperation on advanced technologies. Under the agreement, American companies will operate the data centres and extend US-managed cloud services, leveraging the UAE's strategic location to serve nearly half the world's population.Speaking to TIME, Faheem Ahamed, Group Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at G42, said the company sees other AI firms 'not as competition, but [as] potential collaborators.' He added that G42's selection reflects its growing global influence, with giga-scale projects underway in Europe, Kenya, and the US. 'It also reflects a collaborative model that positions the company at the centre of global AI infrastructure development.'Indeed, G42's ambitions extend far beyond the Gulf. Through its subsidiary Core42, the company recently signed a strategic agreement with iGenius to launch Europe's largest AI compute infrastructure — a sovereign AI supercomputer powered by thousands of Nvidia Blackwell GPUs.According to TIME, winning over Washington was pivotal to the company's global ambitions. In May, the US administration relaxed restrictions on semiconductor exports to the UAE, enabling US companies to sell cutting-edge chips for G42's AI campuses. 'For US firms, closer ties offer access to substantial Emirati capital and energy, and closer proximity to half the globe's population,' the TIME report said.
The UAE, a forerunner in artificial intelligence policy, has made significant strides in recent years. It was the first country to appoint a Minister of AI in 2017 and to launch a nationwide AI strategy. Institutions such as the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence underscore the nation's commitment to leading AI innovation.
Source: Aletihad - Abu Dhabi
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