President-elect Donald Trump has agreed a $20bn deal with the head of an Emirati property conglomerate to build a swathe of data centres across the US.
Hussain Sajwani, who heads DAMAC Properties, said subsidiary firm EDGNEX will deliver “state-of-the-art” data centres with the initial $20bn funding round, although this could be doubled in time “on the basis of future demand, market opportunity and scalability”.
The firm will initially focus on building infrastructure in sunbelt states including Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma and Louisiana, and Midwest states such as Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana.
Sajwani has long been a close associate of Trump. DAMAC contributed between $1m and $5m to Trump’s first campaign.
The first phase of the data centre proposal includes capacity build-up through joint ventures with partners, acquiring land banks in conjunction with utilities, and acquiring existing data centres and platforms.
“This is an extremely exciting moment for us,” Sajwani said. “Our foray...