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The headquarters of SpaceX in Hawthorne, California, with a Falcon 9 booster in March 2024.

Explainer

Saudi investors could emerge as key winners from SpaceX’s historic IPO

A new disclosure from Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding ahead of SpaceX’s Nasdaq debut shows just how valuable Elon Musk's relationship with Gulf investors has become.

Latest News

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

David Rosenberg

In Tel Aviv, reporting on business and tech

People sit in a cafe outside the Apple Store in Dubai on May 8, 2025.

Iran names US tech, finance firms in new Middle East threat list

Firms listed as potential targets included Oracle, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Meta, IBM, Palantir and Nvidia, while banking giant JPMorgan and UAE-based AI firm G42 were also listed.

Traffic rolls along a main throughfare under a banner with images of past and present leaders that reads in Farsi, "Domino fall", as daily life returns to the streets following nationwide protests, in the Iranian capital Tehran on January 19, 2026. Demonstrations sparked in late December by anger over economic hardship exploded into protests widely seen as the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in years. Limited internet access briefly returned in Iran before dropping again, a monitor said January

Analysis

Iran’s longest-ever internet blackout leaves 99% offline: What to know

Facing a historic internet blackout, Iranians are locked in a struggle with authorities to find loopholes to get around this communications crackdown, leading to "shutdowns within a shutdown."

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Attendees take a picture of French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe as he delivers a speech during a visit to the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum on February 10, 2018, on Saadiyat island in the Emirati capital, to launch the French-Emirati "Year of Cultural Dialogue". (Photo by KARIM SAHIB / AFP) (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

What we know about UAE blocking X accounts accused of misinformation

A number of X accounts including Al Arabiya Breaking are now not accessible in the Gulf state as Abu Dhabi navigates regional turmoil.

United Arab Emirates

A man and woman walk along a promenade overlooking the Burj al-Arab and Dubai skyline on January 4, 2025. (Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP) (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)

Interview

AI, cybersecurity high on Mideast priorities amid global tech rivalry: Tech Mahindra

The Indian tech company's Middle East head, Sahil Dhawan, believes these three forces are reshaping business priorities in the region.

Detailed image of Middle Eastern developer in front of desktop pc monitoring a complex network, ensuring data security and efficient computing using cloud, AI and machine learning.

Mideast’s AI startups capture record $858M in funding during 2025, doubling share

The growth represents a sizable jump from recent years, when local AI companies captured just a sliver of dealmaking, and Magnitt now predicts funding for MENA’s AI startups will easily surpass $1 billion in 2026.

United Arab Emirates

Istanbul

Uber snaps up Getir in Turkey as Mubadala exits battered delivery bet

For Uber, the $335 million deal marks a fresh bet on a populous growth market and comes at quite the discount — as recently as 2022, Getir was valued at nearly $12 billion.

Participants visit the Token 2049 crypto conference in Dubai on May 1, 2025.

Crypto crash collides with UAE’s big bet on digital assets

After hitting record highs in 2025, Bitcoin’s sell-off is roiling global markets and making waves in the UAE.

United Arab Emirates

Advertisement boards on main road of the city Sheikh Zayed Road.

UAE launches sovereign open-source AI model K2 Think: What to know

The Gulf state is one of the few countries in the world developing its own sovereign open-source AI model to counter the dominance of the United States and China in the sector.

United Arab Emirates

An undated image of Wassim Chourbaji, Qualcomm's president for the Middle East & Africa.

Interview

Qualcomm sees growing demand for edge AI in the Middle East

The Middle East's young population is increasingly adopting AI through mobile devices rather than data center-based solutions, Wassim Chourbaji, Qualcomm's president for the Middle East and Africa, told Al-Monitor.

Wassim Chourbaji

Wassim Chourbaji

Qualcomm president for the Middle East & Africa