'The sky is the limit' on Damac investment in the U.S., Dubai property giant's chief says

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 billion 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."

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