Gulf Investment Shifts Away From Northern Emirates Property Into Data Centers

CAPITAL FLOWS TO GULF DATA CENTERS EVEN AS NORTHERN EMIRATES PROPERTY MARKETS COOL

Sidara locked in USD 1.35 billion in five-year financing, with an accordion clause that could push total commitments to USD 3.1 billion, according to sources tracking the transaction. The deal is the sharpest recent illustration of a broader divergence: Gulf capital is accelerating into technology and energy infrastructure even as real estate momentum fades in Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, where geopolitical uncertainty is weighing on traditional property markets.

That appetite for infrastructure extends well beyond the UAE’s borders. The UAE is eyeing Japan’s largest data center, with plans to invest as much as USD 6.3 billion in a 500 megawatt AI facility planned for Akita in northern Japan. Mubadala is expected to lead the investment, according to Bloomberg reporting citing people with knowledge of the matter. Suppliers and other companies setting up around the site could lift the total project cost to as much as JPY 2 trillion. The move fits a wider pattern of Gulf capital chasing AI infrastructure in markets positioned as a hedge against US-China tech tensions, while also aligning with Japan’s own strategic push to pull investment outside Tokyo and Osaka.

Meanwhile, the UAE’s infrastructure push is already moving on multiple fronts. In Vietnam, G42 is leading a USD 1 billion buildout of three data centers. MGX, which raised nearly USD 50 billion in June to accelerate its global investment push, closed a USD 40 billion takeover of Aligned Data Centers alongside BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners.

Back home, property markets in the northern emirates are showing fatigue. Momentum is cooling quarter-on-quarter in both Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah. Despite the slowdown, capital is still flowing into alternative asset classes. Film-tech platform CineNow is looking to turn Indian cinema intellectual property into a tokenized asset class from the UAE, with an eye to expand into further sectors.

On the energy front, the UAE continues to navigate regional risks with notable agility. Adnoc sold more than 130 million barrels of crude across seven tenders since the start of June, equivalent to more than a month of Japanese crude demand. The UAE moved more oil to global buyers than any other Gulf producer despite the strait’s risk, according to Bloomberg reporting. Vortexa estimates the UAE was the only Middle Eastern producer to restore seaborne exports to pre-war levels over June and July, with most cargoes heading to Asian refiners.

The workaround runs on two tracks. Adnoc charters tankers at elevated rates to shuttle crude through Hormuz with their transponders switched off, then transfers the cargo to another vessel in the Gulf of Oman for the longer haul to buyers. On land, the existing Habshan-Fujairah pipeline carries up to 1.8 million barrels per day to Fujairah without the crude ever entering the strait. A second USD 3 billion pipeline linking Ruwais to Fujairah is due online in 2027, adding 1.5 million barrels per day and lifting the UAE’s total bypass capacity to 3.3 million barrels per day.

In media and entertainment, UK regulators cleared Paramount’s L’imad-backed USD 110 billion buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority approved the deal after Paramount offered to turn assurances into binding commitments. Those commitments include distinct editorial identities across channels and services, no merging of UK streaming platforms despite Paramount’s separate plan to fold HBO Max into Paramount+, continued editorial independence for Channel 5 as a public service broadcaster, and a firewall between cost-cutting and content commissioning. The merger is facing delays in other jurisdictions, with the overall deadline pushed to June 2027 after a federal judge in Oakland approved a delay tied to a lawsuit filed by California and several other states seeking to block the agreement.

Sustainable finance activity in the region remains concentrated at the top. The UAE and Saudi Arabia accounted for 98 percent of the total value of sustainable bond issuance in the Middle East in the first half of 2026, and 73 percent of total volumes, according to an S&P Global report. The UAE was the only country to see growth in both volumes, up 17 percent year-on-year, and values, up 30 percent year-on-year. Banks dominated issuances at 80 percent by value and 87 percent by volume, with issuers increasingly turning to private placements. S&P Global revised its total predicted sustainable bond issuances down to USD 15 billion to 20 billion, from a previous expectation of USD 20 billion to 25 billion, citing continued geopolitical uncertainty and tighter market conditions. Whether the UAE’s dual growth in volumes and values holds into the second half of the year may depend on how quickly that uncertainty resolves.