DIWAN · REGISTER
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Studies & Intelligence
Intelligence with context. Foresight that shapes decisions. The DIWAN register publishes commissioned studies, briefings, and market intelligence across sectors and jurisdictions.
AllTrade & Capital 48Law & Regulation 22Country Files 181Demand & Buyers 38Platforms & Growth 154Brand & Positioning 2Commodities 21Business 43Technology 159Cyber Security 3
All
United Arab Emirates 22
Saudi Arabia 19
Qatar 11
Singapore 9
Oman 4
Bahrain 2
Dominican Republic 2
Egypt 2
France 2
Germany 2
Israel 2
Liberia 2
Malaysia 2
Mexico 2
Netherlands 2
Pakistan 2
Switzerland 2
Zimbabwe 2
Albania 1
Algeria 1
American Samoa 1
Andorra 1
Angola 1
Antigua and Barbuda 1
Argentina 1
Aruba 1
Australia 1
Austria 1
Azerbaijan 1
Bahamas, The 1
Bangladesh 1
Barbados 1
Belarus 1
Belize 1
Bermuda 1
Bhutan 1
Bolivia 1
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1
Brazil 1
British Virgin Islands 1
Brunei Darussalam 1
Bulgaria 1
Burundi 1
Cabo Verde 1
Cambodia 1
Canada 1
Cayman Islands 1
Central African Republic 1
Chad 1
Channel Islands 1
Chile 1
China 1
Congo, Dem. Rep. 1
Congo, Rep. 1
Costa Rica 1
Croatia 1
Cuba 1
Curacao 1
Cyprus 1
Czechia 1
Denmark 1
Dominica 1
Ecuador 1
Equatorial Guinea 1
Eritrea 1
Estonia 1
Eswatini 1
Fiji 1
Finland 1
French Polynesia 1
Gabon 1
Gambia, The 1
Georgia 1
Gibraltar 1
Greece 1
Greenland 1
Grenada 1
Guam 1
Guatemala 1
Guinea 1
Guyana 1
Haiti 1
Hong Kong SAR, China 1
Hungary 1
India 1
Indonesia 1
Iran, Islamic Rep. 1
Ireland 1
Isle of Man 1
Italy 1
Jamaica 1
Jordan 1
Kazakhstan 1
Kiribati 1
Korea, Dem. People's Rep. 1
Korea, Rep. 1
Kosovo 1
Kuwait 1
Kyrgyz Republic 1
Lao PDR 1
Latvia 1
Lesotho 1
Libya 1
Lithuania 1
Luxembourg 1
Macao SAR, China 1
Malawi 1
Malta 1
Mauritania 1
Mauritius 1
Monaco 1
Mongolia 1
Montenegro 1
Morocco 1
Mozambique 1
Myanmar 1
Naoero 1
Nepal 1
New Caledonia 1
New Zealand 1
Niger 1
Nigeria 1
North Macedonia 1
Northern Mariana Islands 1
Palau 1
Panama 1
Papua New Guinea 1
Paraguay 1
Peru 1
Philippines 1
Poland 1
Puerto Rico (US) 1
Romania 1
Rwanda 1
Samoa 1
San Marino 1
Senegal 1
Sierra Leone 1
Sint Maarten (Dutch part) 1
Slovak Republic 1
Slovenia 1
Solomon Islands 1
South Africa 1
South Sudan 1
Spain 1
Sri Lanka 1
St. Kitts and Nevis 1
St. Lucia 1
St. Martin (French part) 1
St. Vincent and the Grenadines 1
Sudan 1
Suriname 1
Sweden 1
Syrian Arab Republic 1
Tajikistan 1
Tanzania 1
Timor-Leste 1
Togo 1
Trinidad and Tobago 1
Tunisia 1
Turkey 1
Turkmenistan 1
Turks and Caicos Islands 1
Tuvalu 1
Ukraine 1
United Kingdom 1
Uruguay 1
Vanuatu 1
Venezuela, RB 1
Vietnam 1
Virgin Islands (U.S.) 1
West Bank and Gaza 1
Yemen, Rep. 1
Zambia 1
United Arab Emirates 22Saudi Arabia 19Qatar 11Singapore 9Oman 4Bahrain 2Dominican Republic 2Egypt 2France 2Germany 2Israel 2Liberia 2Malaysia 2Mexico 2Netherlands 2Pakistan 2Switzerland 2Zimbabwe 2Albania 1Algeria 1American Samoa 1Andorra 1Angola 1Antigua and Barbuda 1Argentina 1Aruba 1Australia 1Austria 1Azerbaijan 1Bahamas, The 1Bangladesh 1Barbados 1Belarus 1Belize 1Bermuda 1Bhutan 1Bolivia 1Bosnia and Herzegovina 1Brazil 1British Virgin Islands 1Brunei Darussalam 1Bulgaria 1Burundi 1Cabo Verde 1Cambodia 1Canada 1Cayman Islands 1Central African Republic 1Chad 1Channel Islands 1Chile 1China 1Congo, Dem. Rep. 1Congo, Rep. 1Costa Rica 1Croatia 1Cuba 1Curacao 1Cyprus 1Czechia 1Denmark 1Dominica 1Ecuador 1Equatorial Guinea 1Eritrea 1Estonia 1Eswatini 1Fiji 1Finland 1French Polynesia 1Gabon 1Gambia, The 1Georgia 1Gibraltar 1Greece 1Greenland 1Grenada 1Guam 1Guatemala 1Guinea 1Guyana 1Haiti 1Hong Kong SAR, China 1Hungary 1India 1Indonesia 1Iran, Islamic Rep. 1Ireland 1Isle of Man 1Italy 1Jamaica 1Jordan 1Kazakhstan 1Kiribati 1Korea, Dem. People's Rep. 1Korea, Rep. 1Kosovo 1Kuwait 1Kyrgyz Republic 1Lao PDR 1Latvia 1Lesotho 1Libya 1Lithuania 1Luxembourg 1Macao SAR, China 1Malawi 1Malta 1Mauritania 1Mauritius 1Monaco 1Mongolia 1Montenegro 1Morocco 1Mozambique 1Myanmar 1Naoero 1Nepal 1New Caledonia 1New Zealand 1Niger 1Nigeria 1North Macedonia 1Northern Mariana Islands 1Palau 1Panama 1Papua New Guinea 1Paraguay 1Peru 1Philippines 1Poland 1Puerto Rico (US) 1Romania 1Rwanda 1Samoa 1San Marino 1Senegal 1Sierra Leone 1Sint Maarten (Dutch part) 1Slovak Republic 1Slovenia 1Solomon Islands 1South Africa 1South Sudan 1Spain 1Sri Lanka 1St. Kitts and Nevis 1St. Lucia 1St. Martin (French part) 1St. Vincent and the Grenadines 1Sudan 1Suriname 1Sweden 1Syrian Arab Republic 1Tajikistan 1Tanzania 1Timor-Leste 1Togo 1Trinidad and Tobago 1Tunisia 1Turkey 1Turkmenistan 1Turks and Caicos Islands 1Tuvalu 1Ukraine 1United Kingdom 1Uruguay 1Vanuatu 1Venezuela, RB 1Vietnam 1Virgin Islands (U.S.) 1West Bank and Gaza 1Yemen, Rep. 1Zambia 1Country Files
Photo · Stijn te Strake / Unsplash
Country intelligence
Saudi Arabia: First Reading 2026
Economic and Social Projections
By 2025, Saudi Arabia's GDP is projected to reach USD 1.28 trillion, with a real GDP growth rate of 4.5%. The population is anticipated to grow to 37.0 million, with a high urbanisation rate of 84.6%. Inflation is expected to remain stable at 2.1%, while the unemployment rate is projected to decrease to 3%. These trends indicate a recovering economy amidst ongoing challenges.
USD 1.28 trillionGDP, CURRENT USD (2025)
4.5REAL GDP GROWTH (2025)
USD 34,537GDP PER CAPITA, CURRENT USD (2025)
Photo · Roger Starnes Sr / Unsplash
Feasibility
The Gulf Data-Centre Race: Power, Chips and the New Digital Geography
Announced gigawatts, energized megawatts, and who actually captures the AI workloads
The Gulf has announced between 5 and 11 gigawatts of sovereign AI data-centre capacity while roughly 500 megawatts of third-party capacity is live today. This study benchmarks the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar against the two constrained incumbents — Singapore and Ireland — across capacity, power economics, latency position and regulation, and maps who captures which workloads to 2030.
5-11 GWSOVEREIGN AI CAMPUS CAPACITY ANNOUNCED ACROSS THE GCC
~500 MWGCC THIRD-PARTY DATA-CENTRE CAPACITY LIVE TODAY
~20%SHARE OF IRELAND'S METERED ELECTRICITY CONSUMED BY DATA CENTRES
Photo · Jeffrey Eisen / Unsplash
Masterplan
Feeding the Gulf: The Food-Security Investment Map 2026–2030
Where sovereign capital is pulling private money — UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar benchmarked against the Netherlands and Israel, and the four-segment stack priced
Gulf food-security capital has moved upstream: over US$7 billion of verified sovereign and state-linked deals since 2020 now target the grain trade itself, while domestic production consolidates around what survives the desert P&L. This study benchmarks the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar against their two explicit reference systems — the Netherlands and Israel — then prices the four-segment investable stack: greenhouse-first controlled-environment agriculture, sovereign-anchored aquaculture, cash-yielding cold chain, and alternative proteins as a regulatory call option under Abu Dhabi's 2025 halal-integrated novel-food framework. It closes with the four co-investment structures that repeat across every disclosed transaction, and a candid risk register.
US$7bn+VERIFIED SOVEREIGN & STATE-LINKED AGRI-FOOD COMMITMENTS SINCE 2020
>90%SHARE OF UAE FOOD SUPPLY THAT IS IMPORTED
US$23.7BMEA COLD-CHAIN MARKET BY 2034 (FROM US$13.1B IN 2025)
Photo · Nick Fewings / Unsplash
Masterplan
Sovereign AI in the Gulf: Compute, Models and Talent — Who Actually Leads
Announcement versus deployment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar — benchmarked against Singapore and France
The Gulf sovereign-AI race has split into three distinct strategies: the UAE is deploying (a gigawatt-class campus physically under construction, chips export-licensed, a US$49bn infrastructure fund closed, and a continuous cadence of shipped models), Saudi Arabia is announcing at the largest scale (6.6GW by 2034) while execution is still early, and Qatar has pivoted to capital-as-strategy, buying exposure rather than building gigawatts. Benchmarked against Singapore and France, the UAE currently leads on execution score; the binding constraint for every programme is US chip-export approval, which has quietly become the real scoreboard.
200 MWFIRST GULF GIGAWATT-CLASS CAMPUS PHASE DUE ONLINE — STARGATE UAE, Q3 2026
6.6 GWHUMAIN ANNOUNCED COMPUTE TARGET BY 2034
US$49bnMGX FUND I CLOSED COMMITMENTS, JULY 2026
Photo · Zlaťáky.cz / Unsplash
Masterplan
The Silicon Sovereigns: How Gulf Capital Is Buying Its Way Into the AI Order
Compute, equity and chip diplomacy: an audit of what Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Doha are actually acquiring in the artificial-intelligence build-out
Between Microsoft's $1.5bn stake in G42 in April 2024 and the $49bn close of Abu Dhabi's MGX fund in July 2026, Gulf sovereign capital moved from the periphery of artificial intelligence to a load-bearing position in its financing. This study benchmarks the Gulf's sovereign AI vehicles against their Singaporean peers and finds that what the sovereigns are buying, in descending order of certainty, is compute, equity and influence — with access to American chips, not capital, as the binding constraint.
$49bnFINAL CLOSE OF MGX'S DEDICATED AI FUND, ANNOUNCED 1 JULY 2026 — THE LARGEST SINGLE AI-FOCUSED INVESTMENT VEHICLE ON RECORD (SOURCE: CNBC, BLOOMBERG)
5 GWPLANNED CAPACITY OF THE STARGATE UAE CAMPUS IN ABU DHABI, THE LARGEST AI COMPUTE CLUSTER ANNOUNCED OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES (SOURCE: OPENAI, G42, SOFTBANK, MAY 2025)
~70,000GB300-CLASS NVIDIA CHIPS COVERED BY THE FIRST-TRANCHE NOVEMBER 2025 US EXPORT AUTHORIZATIONS TO G42 AND HUMAIN; DIWAN AGGREGATION OF TRADE-PRESS TALLIES (SOURCE: US DEPT OF COMMERCE STATEMENT, 19 NOV 2025)
Photo · Dayne Topkin / Unsplash
Customer research
Easy to Start, Hard to Keep Clean: The UAE SME Formation and Compliance Market
Formation venues compete on price and speed; the durable cost of owning a UAE company now sits in the tax-and-filing stack that follows
The UAE remains one of the cheapest and fastest places in the Gulf to incorporate, with entry licenses from roughly AED 6,000 and approval in days. Since corporate tax took effect in June 2023, however, the recurring compliance line — registration, bookkeeping, VAT and corporate tax filings — has become broadly venue-independent and often exceeds the annual license renewal itself. This study benchmarks five formation venues against Saudi and Bahraini references and sizes the services market that keeps the country's ~557,000 SMEs clean.
~557,000SMES OPERATING IN THE UAE AT END-2022 — THE INSTALLED BASE THE COMPLIANCE-SERVICES MARKET SERVES (SOURCE: UAE MINISTRY OF ECONOMY, VIA WAM)
AED 375,000THE DOUBLE THRESHOLD: TAXABLE INCOME ABOVE IT ATTRACTS 9% CORPORATE TAX, AND TAXABLE SUPPLIES ABOVE IT FORCE VAT REGISTRATION (SOURCE: FEDERAL DECREE-LAW 47 OF 2022; FEDERAL DECREE-LAW 8 OF 2017)
AED 10,000ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTY FOR LATE CORPORATE TAX REGISTRATION, WAIVABLE UNDER THE FTA'S 2025 INITIATIVE FOR ENTITIES FILING WITHIN SEVEN MONTHS OF THEIR FIRST PERIOD END (SOURCE: CABINET DECISION 75 OF 2023 AS AMENDED; FEDERAL TAX AUTHORITY)
Photo · Bernd 📷 Dittrich / Unsplash
Masterplan
The Journey Economy: Mapping MENA's Travel and Experiences Market
Beyond hotel counts: pilgrimage volumes, giga-project supply and the young intra-regional traveller reshaping the region's visitor economy
MENA's five headline travel markets each closed 2025 with record arrivals, a synchronised peak the region has not produced before. This study maps the market beyond hotel counts: tourism's GDP contribution, religious travel volumes, the under-digitised experiences layer, Saudi giga-project supply, and the young domestic and intra-regional demand that actually fills the rooms.
122mTOURIST VISITS TO SAUDI ARABIA IN 2025, DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL COMBINED (SOURCE: SAUDI MINISTRY OF TOURISM, VIA ARAB NEWS)
$178bnTRAVEL AND TOURISM CONTRIBUTION TO SAUDI GDP IN 2025, UP 7.4 PER CENT YEAR ON YEAR (SOURCE: WTTC, VIA ARAB NEWS)
19.59mINTERNATIONAL OVERNIGHT VISITORS TO DUBAI IN 2025, A THIRD CONSECUTIVE RECORD YEAR (SOURCE: DUBAI DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMY AND TOURISM)
