 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | |
| Founded | 2018; 7 years ago (2018) |
| Headquarters | Abu Dhabi,United Arab Emirates |
Area served | Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Europe, United States |
Key people |
|
Number of employees | 25,000 (2024)[1] |
| Subsidiaries | G42 Healthcare |
| Website | g42 |
Group 42 Holding Ltd,doing business asG42, is an Emiratiartificial intelligence (AI) development holding company based inAbu Dhabi, founded in 2018. The organization is focused on AI development across various industries including government, healthcare, finance, oil and gas, aviation, and hospitality.Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE's national security advisor is the controlling shareholder and chairs the company. Because G42 had strong ties to China, U.S. authorities have been concerned that G42 serves as a channel through which sophisticated U.S. technology is diverted to Chinese companies or the government. As of February 2024, G42 divested its stakes in China.[2]
G42 was founded in 2018 and is based inAbu Dhabi,UAE.[3] The company performs AI research and development processes onbig data, AI, and machine learning via its subsidiary, the Inception Institute of Artificial Intelligence (IIAI).[4] The company is chaired by the National Security Advisor of the UAE,Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also its controlling shareholder.[5][6] Peng Xiao is the Group CEO,[7] former head of Emirati cybersecurity companyDarkMatter Group.[8]
In 2020, state-ownedMubadala Investment Company took a stake in the company, transferring ownership of two information technology companies, Injazat and Khazna to G42.[9] The next year, American private equity firmSilver Lake invested $800 million for a minority stake.[10][11]
In 2023, an investment unit, Lunate, was established under theInternational Holding Company. The fund was set up to manage Group 42’s China-focused 42X Fund, which has stakes in Beijing’sJD.com andByteDance. Lunate has over 160 employees, and is overseen by Tahnoun bin Zayed. However, the establishment of a dedicated investment vehicle for China raised concerns around G42 and Peng Xiao’s commitment to the US about divesting from China.[12][13]
In 2024, the Abu Dhabi government launched an investment firm specializing in AI technologies calledMGX, with G42 and Mubadala as founding partners.[14]
In January 2020, G42 announced the acquisition of Bayanat for Mapping and Surveying Services LLC, an end-to-end provider of geospatial data products and services, to complement G42's satellite-based services.[15][16]
As of 2019, Group 42 was reportedly the sole registered shareholder ofToTok, a free messaging, video, and voice-calling mobile application. The application was downloaded by users in theMiddle East, Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa, within several months. The application was accused of being "used by the government of the United Arab Emirates to try to track every conversation, movement, relationship, appointment, sound and image of those who install it", in aNew York Times exposé in December 2019.[17] Following the allegations, the application was removed byApple andGoogle from their application stores. The CEO of G42 has been leading Pegasus – a subsidiary ofDarkMatter, an Emirati security firm, which received scrutiny over the hiring of formerCIA andNSA officials to spy on Americans, dissidents, and political rivals. The company denied having any connection with DarkMatter.[18][19]
In December 2019, Group 42 announced signing an agreement of strategic partnership withAbu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company (ADDH) to establish a joint venture called Adalytyx.[20]
In 2020, G42 was reported to have donatedBGI Groups Chinese-made Covid testing kits toNevada. US intelligence and security officials objected to these testing kits, raising concerns over privacy risks, in that the gene-sequencing machines of the BGI Group could misuse the patients’ DNA. As of 2020, G42 was also reportedly working with BGI on a project for collecting genetic data of UAE citizens to "generate the highest quality, most comprehensive genome data".[21][22]
In June 2020, G42 partnered withSinopharm for clinical trials of aCOVID-19 vaccine and in March 2021, they decided to produce the vaccine in Abu Dhabi.[23]
In July 2020, G42 announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the two Israeli defense groups,Rafael Advanced Defense Systems andIsrael Aerospace Industries to research and develop methods to combat theCOVID-19 pandemic, which the Israeli subsidiary Elta confirmed.[24][25]
In July 2023, G42 agreed to pay around $100 million to purchase the first of potentially nine supercomputers fromCerebras to deploy its AI technology to create chatbots and analyze genomic and preventive care data. Each supercomputer is capable of 4 exaflops of computing.[26][27][28]
In October 2023, a partnership was announced withOpenAI, the AI research and deployment company responsible forChatGPT.[23] In November 2023, G42 purchased a $100 million stake inByteDance,[23][29] which was divested four months later as an attempt to reassure its U.S. partners.[2]
In April 2024,Microsoft announced that it will invest $1.5 billion in G42. As part of the deal, Microsoft'sBrad Smith would join G42's board, and G42 said it would use theMicrosoft Azure platform for its AI development and deployment.[30]
Brad Smith said the company’s deal with G42 could possibly involve transfer of tools and chips. However, the US officials warned that it could have national security implications, and raised concerns that AI systems could simplify the engineering of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. The Microsoft deal, however, required an approval from the US Department commerce to move forward. The closed-door negotiation between G42 and Microsoft over the terms and safeguards on transfer of the US technology reportedly alarmed some lawmakers.[31]
On November 27, 2023,The New York Times published an article titled,Warnings Emerge Over Emirati A.I. Firm G42’s Ties to China. The article highlighted the extent to which U.S. authorities have been concerned that G42 might serve as a channel through which sophisticated U.S. technology is diverted to Chinese companies or the government. Concerns were raised about the involvement ofHuawei in building G42's technology infrastructure. Intelligence reports cautioned that G42's interactions withsanctioned Chinese enterprises such as BGI Group could serve as a means to transfer the genetic data of millions of Americans and other individuals to theChinese government.[23][29] Following the report byThe New York Times, Peng Xiao stated that G42 would phase out its use of Huawei equipment.[32]
In January 2024,United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party asked theUnited States Department of Commerce to impose export controls on G42 and 13 companies connected to it.[33] In response, G42 told theFinancial Times in February 2024 that it "divested from all its investments in China."[2] In July 2024, U.S. representativesMichael McCaul andJohn Moolenaar asked the federal government for an intelligence assessment of G42's ties to the Chinese government and military as well as risks ofintellectual property theft before a US$1.5 billion investment by Microsoft in G42 could advance.[34] The same month, the Select Committee accused UAE ambassadorYousef Al Otaiba of "personally intervening" to prevent it from meeting with representatives from G42.[35][36] Microsoft subsequently modified its investment in G42, allowing it more oversight.[36]