Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have grown rapidly in recent years both in value and in number. Despite a great deal of popular debate, very little scholarly attention has centered on the `strategic use' of SWFs by states, that is, as tools to promote national development. Using a `network mapping' approach, I investigate two case studies involving extensive strategic SWF investment: Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai's use of SWFs to promote the development of their aerospace sectors; and the deployment of the China Investment Corporation as an instrument of Chinese raw materials and energy policy. Strategically oriented SWF investment can be seen as a state-adaptive strategy under contemporary conditions of globalization and financialization. The viability of such a strategy, however, hinges on the manner in which it feeds into the strategies of firms and states at the receiving end of investment.