A United Arab Emirates investment firm has announced plans to invest $20 billion in new data centers across various locations in the United States, specifically targeting artificial intelligence applications.
Hussain Sajwani, the billionaire CEO and founder of DAMAC Properties, made the declaration during an event at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Sajwani is noted to have a close friendship with Trump. Trump revealed that the initial phase of the investment will focus on states including Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana, hinting that the investment could potentially exceed the initial figure.
According to Sajwani, the funds will specifically cater to the cloud and AI sectors, focusing on the needs of hyperscalers—large-scale cloud computing companies. However, the specifics of how the $20 billion will be utilized remain unclear. It could either be directed towards existing U.S. data center developers like Equinix and JLL, or invested in new developments managed by DAMAC itself, each path posing its own set of challenges.
Data center projects typically take considerable time to complete, commonly spanning five years from conception to operational readiness. Alan Howard, a senior analyst for data center infrastructure at Omdia, emphasized the competitive real estate landscape in popular U.S. markets, where issues such as power capacity connection might delay new projects.
This initiative marks another significant venture for Trump since taking office, following December’s announcement of Softbank’s plans to invest $100 billion in the U.S. which aims to create 100,000 jobs over four years.
For more details, you can visit DAMAC’s official announcement about their investment here.
