G42 (company)

G42 (company)
Group 42 Holding Ltd, doing business as G42, is a technology holding company based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The organization is oriented to the development of AI industries in the government sector, healthcare, finance, oil and gas, aviation, and hospitality.
Corporate history
G42 was founded in 2018 and is based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It comprises a multidisciplinary and diverse team of data scientists and engineers. The company performs fundamental AI research and development processes on big data, AI, and machine learning via its subsidiary the Inception Institute of Artificial Intelligence (IIAI). The company is chaired by the National Security Advisor of UAE, Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also its controlling shareholder. Peng Xiao is the Group CEO.
In 2020, state-owned Mubadala took a stake in the company, transferring ownership of two information technology companies, Injazat and Khazna to G42. The next year, American private equity firm Silver Lake invested $800 million for a minority stake.
Portfolio companies
Bayanat: On 14 January 2020, G42 announced the acquisition of Bayanat for Mapping and Surveying Services LLC, an end-to-end and custom provider of geospatial data products and services. The acquisition was said to complement G42's suite of satellite-based services, leveraging its proficiency in data analytics and artificial intelligence methods.
Partnerships and initiatives
Adalytyx: On 23 December 2019, Group 42 announced signing an agreement of strategic partnership with Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company (ADDH) for the establishment of a joint venture called Adalytyx.
BGI Group: G42 was reported to have donated Chinese-made Covid testing kits to Nevada. These testing kits were objected to by the US intelligence and security officials, who raised concerns over privacy risks, citing that the gene-sequencing machines of the BGI Group could misuse the patients’ DNA. G42 is also reportedly working with BGI on a project for collecting genetic data of the UAE citizens to “generate the highest quality, most comprehensive genome data”.
Cerebras: Cerebras partnered with G42 to deploy its AI supercomputers to create chatbots and analyze genomic and preventive care data. In July 2023, G42 agreed to pay around $100 million to purchase the first of potentially nine supercomputers from Cerebras, each of which is capable of 4 exaflops of computing.
Rafael and IAI: On 2 July 2020, G42 announced the signing a memorandum of understanding with two Israeli defense groups – Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries – to research and develop methods to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The Israeli defense firms’ subsidiary Elta confirmed the agreement.
ToTok: Group 42 was reportedly the sole registered shareholder of the free messaging, video, and voice-calling mobile application, ToTok. The application was downloaded by users in the Middle 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 a New York Times exposé in December 2019. Following the allegations, the application was removed by Apple and Google from their application stores. Reportedly, the CEO of G42 has also been running Pegasus – a subsidiary of an Emirati security firm, DarkMatter, which received scrutiny over the hiring of former CIA and NSA officials to spy on Americans, dissidents, and political rivals. The company, however, denies having any connection with DarkMatter.
References
Companies based in Abu Dhabi
Information technology companies of the United Arab Emirates
Technology companies established in 2018
Mubadala Investment Company
Emirati companies established in 2018