Sheikh Tahnoon controls an economic empire valued at £1.5 trillion, and his influence may soon reach much further. His company, G42, stands at the center of the AI boom. But who is he, exactly?
Sheikh Tahnoon controls an economic empire valued at £1.5 trillion, and his influence may soon reach much further. His company, G42, stands at the center of the AI boom. But who is he, exactly?
Sheikh Tahnoon, the younger brother of UAE ruler Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed (MBZ), holds two of the country's most influential jobs. He oversees its largest sovereign wealth fund and First Abu Dhabi Bank, making him the emirates' leading financier and dealmaker, while also serving as head of national security. More than anyone else, he may have strengthened the UAE's relationship with the US.
Twenty years ago, the United Arab Emirates found itself "at the centre of a political firestorm" after DP World, a Dubai-owned logistics company, sought to acquire six major US seaports. The Financial Times reports that the deal prompted an uproar. Some members of Congress accused the oil-rich Gulf state of serving as a financing hub for al-Qaeda and warned that allowing the UAE to operate strategic ports would pose a grave security risk. DP World eventually abandoned the purchase. The episode became "a watershed moment for the UAE and its relationship with America."
The Al Nahyan dynasty, firmly opposed to Islamic extremism, decided to correct what it called a "fundamental misunderstanding." Two decades later, the UAE ranks among America's most capable allies and business partners in the Middle East.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump has "clutched Tahnoon and G42 close to his bosom." Last year, he also reversed a decision restricting AI-chip exports to the UAE, clearing the way for what is planned as the world's largest data centre on a campus outside Abu Dhabi. Called "Stargate UAE," the completed facility is expected to have 5GW of power capacity - up to five times that of the largest hyperscale data centres operating today. The US chip agreement was announced two weeks after one of Tahnoon's investment vehicles bought £2 billion in cryptocurrency issued by World Liberty, the Trump family's company.
Following the UAE's independence from Britain in 1971, Sheikh Zayed established the ruling dynasty. He is believed to have fathered 30 children, yet the real power passed to the offspring of his third and favourite wife, Fatima. The Guardian says Sheikh Tahnoon and his five brothers are known in the UAE as the bani Fatima, or "sons of Fatima." They grew up with her belief that the family stood at the centre of the universe.
Tahnoon, 57, is "obsessed with winning," whether he is playing chess, gaming or practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu. The Guardian says his work as the UAE's security chief points to something darker: "The UAE has a long history of enforced disappearances, secret detention sites and vicious reprisals against the family members of exiled dissidents." G42, it argues, represents "the culmination of Tahnoon's dual identity as a financier and spymaster." Much of the company's expertise came from DarkMatter, a now-dissolved firm known for hacking and surveillance.
Some people may find the UAE's growing influence in AI unsettling, particularly with Tahnoon at its center. Outside the country, few have heard of him. "He's quiet," a former US national security official told The Guardian, "and he's always everywhere." Should things go his way, this may be only the beginning of his global reach.
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