News

Qatar Is Getting Its First EV Plant, Built To Cope With Gulf Heat

JTA and UK-based WATT plan to design, engineer, and build EVs in Qatar. But can low-to-medium-volume production compete globally?

Published

1 month ago

August 17, 2026

Nour Nasir

qatar is getting its first ev plant built to cope with gulf heat

WATT Electric Vehicle Company

JTA International Investment Holding (JTA) and WATT Electric Vehicle Company (WATT) have formed a strategic partnership to establish Qatar’s first EV manufacturing plant. The two companies intend to jointly design, engineer and manufacture a new generation of EVs developed specifically for the Gulf, and the partnership runs the full length of the process — from proprietary platform technology and engineering through product development, production planning and local advanced manufacturing capabilities.

The partnership brings JTA’s investment capability, international partnerships and regional market expertise. Meanwhile, WATT, based in the UK, designs and manufactures low-to-medium-volume EVs, both under its own brand and for third-party clients, with platform technology spanning commercial and passenger vehicles. The Qatar project will use WATT’s patented lightweight aluminum architecture and proprietary EV platform.

Climate is going to be central to the design brief. “Together with WATT, we will develop electric vehicles specifically designed for the Gulf region — vehicles engineered around local operating conditions, the region’s demanding climate and the expectations of customers,” said Dr. Amir Ali Salemi Zadeh, founder and CEO of JTA Investment Holding.

Neil Yates, founder and CEO of WATT, said the platform, “developed and validated in the UK, enables the rapid and commercially efficient development of highly customized EVs while significantly reducing development time and manufacturing costs”. He pointed to “advanced thermal management and battery performance in extreme temperatures” as areas where his engineering teams are positioned to design vehicles for the region.

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The stated ambitions also include strengthening regional supply chains, more research and development, localized advanced manufacturing technologies and developing a skilled workforce in Qatar. Salemi Zadeh framed the goal as “a globally competitive EV manufacturing platform that positions Qatar as a regional leader in advanced manufacturing, clean mobility and automotive innovation”.

Although the plans are ambitious, neither of the partners have yet detailed future production capacity, timelines, investment size or which vehicles will roll out first.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

5 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

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The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.