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Dubai Plans 100,000 Square Foot AI & Web 3.0 Campus
The initiative will bring $300 million in investment and create more than 3,000 jobs over the next five years.
On Monday, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) announced plans to create the largest cluster of artificial intelligence companies and tech startups in the MENA region. The initiative will be known as the “Dubai AI & Web 3.0 Campus” and has been given the go-ahead through directives by the First Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who also acts as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance for the UAE, and President of the DIFC.
Over the next five years, the Dubai AI & Web 3.0 Campus will expand to over 100,000 square feet and become a haven for entrepreneurs, tech disruptors, developers, and anyone passionate about emerging technologies. The campus will be constructed with a world-class digital infrastructure while including R&D facilities, shared workspaces, and giving access to accelerator programs to build and scale AI companies.
Governor of the DIFC, Essa Kazim, was enthusiastic about the recent announcement, noting that: “DIFC’s 2030 strategy is central to shaping the future of finance and innovation. AI is expected to inject Dh103 billion into the UAE economy by 2035 and contribute 14 percent to the country’s GDP by the decade’s end. The Dubai AI & Web 3.0 Campus will significantly contribute to this growth as a global nexus for R&D, investment, and innovation by attracting over $300 million in collective funds, 500+ global AI and Web 3.0 startups, and creating 3000+ jobs by 2028”.
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Investors and government officials hope the new initiative will catalyze local growth, attracting global startups, innovators, and industry leaders to the site and establishing a thriving local tech industry.
By seamlessly integrating physical and virtual infrastructures, the Dubai AI & Web 3.0 Campus could eventually become a preferred headquarters for leading Web 3.0 and AI companies and venture capitalists operating in the MENA region.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
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The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
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