DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The sky’s the limit when it comes to Dubai property giant Damac’s investment in the United States, the company’s chairman told CNBC on Thursday.
Two days prior, President-elect Donald Trump announced a $20 billion foreign investment by the Emirati company to build new data centers across the U.S. — adding that its founder and chairman Hussein Sajwani was pledging “at least” that amount.
“The U.S. is a huge market, so our $20 billion [investment] is a sizeable [amount of ] money when you look at it from our point of view. But, to my knowledge, there is a large amount of money getting invested in data centers, and some numbers are talking about $500 billion and more,” said Sajwani, who is a longtime friend and business partner of Trump. He pointed to Microsoft’s recent announcement on investing $80 into American data centers in 2025.
Asked by CNBC’s Dan Murphy if he would eventually invest more in the U.S., Sajwani replied: “Well I mean, the sky is the limit, we can invest more, as much as the market takes, then the limitation is not on.”
He added, “we can use initially our own financial resources, but then [in the] second phase we can use [a] third party’s money, if our platform can grow to the next level.”
CEO of DAMAC Properties Hussain Sajwani makes remarks next to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. January 7, 2025.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
Sajwani, the Emirati billionaire, founded Damac Properties in 2002. The company is part of Damac Group, a major presence in Dubai’s burgeoning real estate market that is known for its megaprojects, which include luxury high-rises, hotels and villas in both Europe and the Middle East.
The company has also already expanded into the U.S. In 2022, Damac Properties won a $120 million bid to purchase land in Miami’s upscale Surfside district, where it plans to build a luxury oceanfront condominium.
Sajwani expressed optimism on his outlook for the business climate in the U.S. under Trump and for further partnerships with the Middle East, describing the president-elect as “very pro business.”
“He likes to encourage businessmen to come to the U.S., he likes his country to be open for business and investments, and he was very positive,” the chairman said. Sajwani spent 11 days at Mar-a-Lago, including spending New Year’s Eve with Trump and his family. During this interval, he also spent time with Elon Musk and other close associates of the president-elect.
The Damac announcement follows other foreign investment deals that have been unveiled since Trump’s election, including a plan by Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son to invest $100 billion in the U.S. and create 100,000 jobs over the course of Trump’s four-year term.
— CNBC’s Eamon Javers and Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.