We have all grown used to Big Tech breaking records, and we all – almost – became numb to hearing valuations in the billions of dollars. Yet one milestone still deserves a pause.
Nvidia’s valuation recently exceeded $5 trillion, making it the first company in history to do so. Microsoft and Apple hover around $4 trillion each. Together, the top three are worth over $10 trillion – more than the entire economies of Japan and Germany combined (about $8.5 trillion in nominal gross domestic product). If these companies were a country, they would rank third globally, behind only the US and China. That’s not just a headline – it’s a historic shift in how value and power are created.
At this valuation, these companies move beyond being mere corporations, and become sovereign-scale entities. Market value is not GDP, but it signals power, and influence is now migrating from national capitals to corporate headquarters. The larger-than-life executives shape global norms on privacy, security and even diplomacy – often faster than governments can legislate. What used to be a technological “arms race” between nations has been extended to a capability race between states and businesses. Whoever controls compute, data and talent pipelines defines the next era of competitiveness.
From an economics and business perspective, the $10 trillion figure should shock us into clarity. It is not merely “Big Tech getting bigger”, and it is not about a bubble (which it might be). It does, however, mark the moment when knowledge, data and compute to become the world’s primary economic flywheel – the new foundation of productivity and national power. The old phrase “data is the new oil” now feels quaint.
In fact, let us look at the value of real oil. The five largest oil and gas companies – Saudi Aramco ($1.7 trillion), ExxonMobil ($500 billion), Chevron ($310 billion), PetroChina ($250 billion) and Shell ($220 billion) – together total just below $3 trillion. The market has spoken: data and compute are the new electricity – and increasingly, the oxygen of growth. Electricity made industrialisation continuous; compute makes innovation continuous. Ironically, the one thing data needs most is still energy. So both data and oil will grow in importance. Data centres already consume an estimated 4 per cent of global electricity and are projected to double that by 2030.
For investors, AI infrastructure looks like the next great earnings engine, despite the speed of value concentration posing many risks. A handful of platforms now dominate global equity indices, compressing diversification. Betting only on enablers – chipmakers, cloud giants and foundries – has been the main focus for now, but the next wave of returns may come from translators: companies that convert AI models into tangible productivity across energy, finance, logistics, health care and government. In the long run, those downstream applications could contribute more to real economic growth than the enablers themselves.
The region today has a window of opportunity to turn resource wealth into knowledge wealth
On the flip side, such valuations at this scale raise deeper social and political questions. When a single company becomes “this rich”, it starts becoming the economic centre of gravity, pulling in the best talent, drawing global capital and shaping supply chains in its image. Some of this is healthy dynamism and success should be rewarded. However, this might also amplify inequality if workers are displaced faster than new industries absorb them into new jobs and professions, while startups and universities may find themselves priced out of access to compute and data.
For the Middle East and Africa, the strategic question is how to build the ecosystem that makes such scale possible in our region. That means universities must push research frontiers and forge deep talent networks that compete and collaborate. Also, governments should invest more (much more) in research and development, offer patient capital and enforce predictable rules for growth.
The region today has a window of opportunity to turn resource wealth into knowledge wealth. Oil once conferred geopolitical power; in the AI era, it is compute capacity, design capability and innovation ecosystems that define sovereignty. The nations that align academia, government and private capital to create this flywheel will not just host the next trillion-dollar firms – they will reshape where global power resides.
Building this knowledge wealth starts with investing in knowledge. Any nation that wants to build its own digital champions – or even maintain bargaining power in a world of compute scarcity – must invest in the upstreams: maths education, semiconductor literacy, open research, energy infrastructure and the legal plumbing that turns ideas into companies fast.
That is the real lesson from Nvidia at $5 trillion: not just how high markets can go, but how far nations must climb to stay relevant.
The Rub of Time: Bellow, Nabokov, Hitchens, Travolta, Trump and Other Pieces 1986-2016
Martin Amis,
Jonathan Cape
Miss Granny
Director: Joyce Bernal
Starring: Sarah Geronimo, James Reid, Xian Lim, Nova Villa
3/5
(Tagalog with Eng/Ar subtitles)
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The Vines - In Miracle Land
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Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The five types of long-term residential visas
Obed Suhail of ServiceMarket, an online home services marketplace, outlines the five types of long-term residential visas:
Investors:
A 10-year residency visa can be obtained by investors who invest Dh10 million, out of which 60 per cent should not be in real estate. It can be a public investment through a deposit or in a business. Those who invest Dh5 million or more in property are eligible for a five-year residency visa. The invested amount should be completely owned by the investors, not loaned, and retained for at least three years.
Entrepreneurs:
A five-year multiple entry visa is available to entrepreneurs with a previous project worth Dh0.5m or those with the approval of an accredited business incubator in the UAE.
Specialists
Expats with specialised talents, including doctors, specialists, scientists, inventors, and creative individuals working in the field of culture and art are eligible for a 10-year visa, given that they have a valid employment contract in one of these fields in the country.
Outstanding students:
A five-year visa will be granted to outstanding students who have a grade of 95 per cent or higher in a secondary school, or those who graduate with a GPA of 3.75 from a university.
Retirees:
Expats who are at least 55 years old can obtain a five-year retirement visa if they invest Dh2m in property, have savings of Dh1m or more, or have a monthly income of at least Dh20,000.
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Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
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Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Juliot Vinolia’s checklist for adopting alternate-day fasting
- Don’t do it more than once in three days
- Don’t go under 700 calories on fasting days
- Ensure there is sufficient water intake, as the body can go in dehydration mode
- Ensure there is enough roughage (fibre) in the food on fasting days as well
- Do not binge on processed or fatty foods on non-fasting days
- Complement fasting with plant-based foods, fruits, vegetables, seafood. Cut out processed meats and processed carbohydrates
- Manage your sleep
- People with existing gastric or mental health issues should avoid fasting
- Do not fast for prolonged periods without supervision by a qualified expert
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WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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