Alex Irwin-Hunt

2 months ago | fdiintelligence.com | Alex Irwin-Hunt

In 2014, Saif Qazi, then an MBA student based in Germany, was assessing the best place to test a start-up idea. To his surprise, the gas-rich Gulf country Qatar came out on top, owing to its high internet penetration, compact size and generous support for entrepreneurs. At the time, Qatar had no local venture capital (VC) funds and maintained stringent rules on banking, foreign ownership of businesses and residency for expatriates. Mr Qazi’s reservations about the country were proven wrong.

2 months ago | fdiintelligence.com | Alex Irwin-Hunt

Greenfield foreign direct investment announcements are a harbinger of  global economic shifts caused by changing policies and markets. FDI is a lens for assessing long-term corporate bets. Capital committed today can translate into new facilities and jobs in the future. So what can we learn from the first half of the 2020s? Analysis of fDi Markets data on greenfield FDI announcements reveals a nuanced (and worrisome) outlook for investment-led development. First, the good news.

Feb 13, 2025 | fdiintelligence.com | Alex Irwin-Hunt

Donald Trump has wasted no time in touting his return to office. No proclamation by the US president has arguably made more of a splash than Stargate. The new joint venture, backed by OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle, will “immediately” deploy $100bn of capital expenditure (capex) into artificial intelligence (AI) data centres across the US. The total capex could rise as high as $500bn over the next four years. Trump declared it “by far” the largest AI investment in history.

Feb 12, 2025 | fdiintelligence.com | Alex Irwin-Hunt

Space was once a starry-eyed endeavour, and the preserve of deep-pocketed governments and selected defence contractors. But a dramatic reduction in the cost of doing business in space has enabled rapid innovation across the globe, realigning the industry to become part of the wider tech ecosystem. Global venture capital (VC) deals for space tech start-ups hit a new high of 595 in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 75%, according to Seraphim Space, an investment firm focused on the industry.

Feb 10, 2025 | fdiintelligence.com | Alex Irwin-Hunt

Local and foreign companies are planning to invest €109bn into artificial intelligence (AI) in France over the next few years, according to an interview with president Emmanuel Macron on state-owned television channel France 2, ahead of an AI action summit in Paris, a sign of European efforts to catch up the US and China in a race to dominate the sector.