TBC targets 150km UAE programme after US$3bn funding round

Elon Musk’s The Boring Company (TBC) is targeting more than 150km of new tunnels across the United Arab Emirates after securing US$3bn in a UAE-led funding round. The Series D financing, led by the UAE and affiliated investment entities, values the tunnelling company at US$23bn and is intended to accelerate a major expansion of underground infrastructure across the country. The proposed 150km-plus programme is additional to the Dubai Loop project already awarded to TBC by Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). Details of the locations, individual projects, construction programme and value of the wider UAE tunnelling programme have yet to be released. The investment represents a significant expansion of TBC’s activities outside the US and comes as the company prepares to begin tunnelling for the first phase of Dubai Loop. TBC has signed a construction contract with RTA for a 6.4km pilot system comprising four stations. Construction is planned to start in late 2026, with production of precast tunnel lining segments already underway. The wider Dubai Loop is planned as an approximately 22km underground transport network with 19 stations serving areas including Dubai International Financial Centre, Downtown Dubai, Dubai World Trade Centre and Business Bay. Central to TBC’s expansion plans is its Prufrock TBM platform, which has been developed around rapid deployment, automated operation and reduced requirements for conventional launch and reception infrastructure. The latest Prufrock machines can be launched and recovered from a transporter system known as The Monster, avoiding conventional deep launch shafts and large crane lifts. TBC said it demonstrated Zero-People-in-Tunnel continuous mining in May 2025, allowing the TBM to excavate while simultaneously installing the segmental lining without personnel working inside the tunnel. The company said that by August this year it had also achieved fully autonomous ring erection, with six precast concrete segments, each weighing approximately 1.7t, installed in less than a minute and operations monitored remotely from its Global Operations Control Center in Texas. Supporting equipment includes the battery-electric Liner Truck 3 segment transporter and Vertical Cassette 7 muck-handling system. TBC claims the latter can handle up to 900t/hr and has been designed to support tunnelling rates of up to 6.4km/week. The company’s expanding tunnelling programme also includes Vegas Loop in Nevada and Music City Loop in Nashville, Tennessee. In Nashville, tunnelling began in February on TBC’s first hard-rock project. The company is using a Prufrock Main Beam machine equipped with more than 17.8MN of gripper force and approximately 6.7MN of thrust. By August, TBC said two machines were mining simultaneously, with a third being prepared for deployment. Vegas remains TBC’s largest operational programme. The company says its Loop system has now transported more than four million passengers, while Clark County has approved an expansion ultimately allowing 123 stations. TBC recently started excavation of what it describes as its 25th tunnel overall and its 14th in Las Vegas. The US$3bn Series D round also includes investment from Human Capital, Vy Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Temasek, Shamal Holding and Baron Capital. TBC said the proceeds will be used to increase recruitment across engineering, production and operations, expand its Loop projects and accelerate development of the Prufrock tunnelling platform and future equipment. Comments: