Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi exhibits hyperphagia like bears before hibernation: $1.7 trillion in sovereign wealth stored while oil flows, non-oil now 54.7% of GDP.
Abu Dhabi demonstrates metabolic scaling at sovereign scale: the emirate holding 94% of UAE oil reserves has converted hydrocarbons into $1.7 trillion of sovereign wealth fund assets, creating an external metabolism that will function long after oil production ends. This is hyperphagia institutionalized—Mubadala alone deployed more capital in 2024 than any other sovereign fund globally, feeding on assets across 50 countries while the home territory transforms.
The non-oil economy's record 54.7% GDP contribution in 2024 reveals autophagy in action: Abu Dhabi is systematically consuming and recycling its oil-dependent structures into new growth sectors. Transportation and storage grew 16.9%, financial services 10.7%, and the emirate now hosts 673 AI companies—a 61% increase from 2023. The 2045 strategy targets seven-fold growth in non-oil exports, essentially rebuilding the organism while it still functions.
The geographical logic is straightforward: sitting atop one of the world's largest petroleum deposits, Abu Dhabi had the rarest of opportunities—time to prepare for depletion. Most resource economies exhaust their assets before building alternatives. Abu Dhabi's $330 billion Mubadala operates like a bear's fat reserves, accumulated during abundance for the lean years ahead. Whether the transformation succeeds will test whether sovereign wealth can truly replace sovereign resources.