Hussain Sajwani, the chairman of DAMAC Properties and a prominent UAE real estate magnate, is venturing into the data center industry with an ambitious plan to establish himself as a global leader, aiming to surpass current market leader Equinix. Sajwani, nicknamed 'The Donald of Dubai' due to his close ties with Donald Trump, envisions building data centers with a total capacity of 6,000 megawatts across 13 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. This monumental undertaking is projected to cost approximately $66 billion.
Sajwani's pivot to data centers was inspired by the surge in video calls during the COVID-19 pandemic and further solidified by the AI frenzy sparked by OpenAI's ChatGPT launch in late 2022. Launched in 2021, DAMAC Digital has already completed sites in Thailand and Saudi Arabia, with an additional six expected to be operational by the end of the year, bringing the total to eight. He dismissed concerns about an AI bubble or market oversupply, emphasizing the "huge" demand anticipated over the next three to four years and the revolutionary impact AI will have on human life.
DAMAC Digital has already secured five "hyperscaler" clients, which are major cloud and AI service providers, implying potential collaborations with tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, although their names are not disclosed. Sajwani believes DAMAC Digital is poised to become the largest company within his vast empire, surpassing DAMAC Properties itself, which also includes investment and logistics divisions. His nearly $15.3 billion net worth, according to Forbes, provides a significant financial backing for this ambitious venture. His global footprint for data centers includes Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Turkey, Greece, Spain, Italy, Finland, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates. He also announced a $20 billion investment in US data centers early last year. Sajwani remains unfazed by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, such as drone attacks on data centers in the UAE and Bahrain, asserting the region's resilience.
