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Emirati Billionaire to Invest $20 Billion in U.S. Data Centers, Announces Trump

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Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani, the chairman of Dubai-based real estate developer DAMAC, has committed to investing $20 billion in the rapidly growing U.S. data center industry. Sajwani made the announcement on Tuesday during a meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at his Palm Beach, Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.

The planned investment is part of a broader effort to bolster the U.S. economy, with Trump emphasizing the importance of strengthening domestic industries. The announcement comes amid Trump’s focus on economic policies that seek to curb China’s access to key technology, including chips used for advanced data centers. In his remarks, Sajwani expressed a willingness to increase the investment beyond the initial $20 billion if market conditions permit, stating, “We’re planning to invest $20 billion and even more than that, if the opportunity in the market allows us.”

Sajwani’s company, DAMAC, has already made its mark in the Middle East by owning the region’s only Trump-branded golf course in Dubai, which opened in 2017. The billionaire’s connection with Trump has grown closer, with the two having celebrated the New Year together in Florida.

While Trump has a history of promoting large investments for economic growth, the outcomes have sometimes been less substantial. For instance, a promised $10 billion Foxconn factory investment in Wisconsin, announced early in Trump’s first term, resulted in a project that was ultimately scaled back and left many promises unmet.

Sajwani’s announcement follows recent moves by other major investors, including SoftBank Group’s CEO Masayoshi Son, who, in collaboration with Trump, committed to a $100 billion investment in the U.S. over the next four years, focusing on AI. The surge in investments in AI and its supporting infrastructure, such as data centers, follows the introduction of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022, which sparked a wave of interest in generative AI technologies.

Microsoft also revealed plans to invest about $80 billion in the U.S. this fiscal year to expand its AI capabilities. The Biden administration has increasingly restricted the export of AI chips to China, aligning with Trump’s foreign policy stance and recent nominations of China hard-liners to key diplomatic and economic roles.

EU Assesses Big Tech Cases Ahead of Trump’s Arrival

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The European Commission affirmed on Tuesday that it is proceeding with its investigations into U.S. Big Tech companies, including Apple, Alphabet, X, and Meta, and stressed that President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House would not alter its commitment to enforcing European laws. The EU has been at the forefront of examining whether these companies have violated laws designed to prevent them from gaining an unfair advantage over competitors.

Trump, who will begin his second term on Monday, has been critical of several European policies, while his ally Elon Musk has clashed with EU regulators on multiple occasions. Reports surfaced on Tuesday suggesting that Brussels might reassess its ongoing investigations of Big Tech, potentially scaling back or altering the scope of the probes at the request of U.S. companies seeking Trump’s intervention.

However, Henna Virkkunen, the EU commissioner responsible for policy, reassured Reuters that investigations are proceeding as usual and no decisions have been made to suspend them. A spokesperson for the European Commission emphasized that the assessments were routine and unrelated to Trump’s upcoming presidency. The focus of these assessments is on evaluating the progress of cases, the allocation of resources, and the overall readiness of investigations.

U.S. tech companies have long complained that European regulations stifle innovation and impose hefty fines. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently urged Trump to intervene and prevent further fines from the EU. He likened the EU’s competition enforcement to a “tariff” on U.S. firms. The Digital Markets Act (DMA), Digital Services Act (DSA), and the EU AI Act have drawn particular criticism from tech industry leaders, including Musk, who was scrutinized earlier this month after hosting controversial figures on his X platform.

The EU’s investigations, which can take several years, have already resulted in significant penalties. Last November, Meta was fined nearly 800 million euros ($821 million) for anti-competitive practices. Ongoing investigations into X, Apple, and Alphabet have yet to reach a conclusion.

In the face of criticism, Thierry Breton, the former EU industry chief, urged that the Commission resist efforts to weaken its regulations, asserting that regulation is not censorship.

 

Trump Mulls Executive Order to Suspend TikTok Ban Enforcement

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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering issuing an executive order that would suspend the enforcement of the law requiring the sale or ban of TikTok for a period of 60 to 90 days. The Washington Post, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that Trump’s administration is contemplating this move as a way to delay the mandatory sale or ban set by a previous law, which is currently poised to take effect. This potential suspension would give Trump time to explore a political resolution to the ongoing concerns about TikTok’s operations in the United States.