Hussain Sajwani says Anthropic gains match 30 years of business earnings
Hussain Sajwani, founder and chairman of DAMAC Group, says the gains from his investment in Anthropic have matched what he earned during his first three decades in business, highlighting the growing importance of technology within his investment portfolio.
Speaking at Bloomberg Invest Dubai on 12 November, the entrepreneur also said investments in Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX had together generated gains running into billions of dollars. The amount realised through any share sales was not disclosed.
An early investment in the company behind Claude
DAMAC publicly announced a US$50 million investment in Anthropic in July 2024, acquiring a holding through the sale of shares previously owned by cryptocurrency exchange FTX. The announcement formed part of a wider expansion into artificial intelligence, alongside investments in xAI and France’s Mistral.
At the Dubai event, Sajwani said he had invested when Anthropic was valued at approximately US$18 billion. He referred to an anticipated valuation of around US$1.4 trillion for the company’s planned stock-market listing.
Those figures concern the valuation of Anthropic as a whole. They do not establish the current value of DAMAC’s holding, which also depends on its share ownership and any subsequent changes to that position.
A proposed listing, with pricing still to be finalised
Anthropic’s preliminary prospectus, dated 10 November, sets out a proposed offering of 825 million Class A shares at an estimated price of US$70 to US$78 per share.
The company has applied to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol ANT. The document remains subject to completion, so the proposed price range should be distinguished from a final offer price or an established public-market valuation.
The offering includes shares sold by Anthropic and a smaller allocation from existing shareholders. The company states that it will not receive proceeds from shares sold by those shareholders.
Investing in AI companies and their infrastructure
Sajwani’s technology interests extend beyond Anthropic. His portfolio includes OpenAI, xAI, Databricks, ByteDance, Together AI and Reflection AI, alongside investments in approximately 100 US funds.
DAMAC is also expanding the physical infrastructure required for AI and cloud computing through DAMAC Digital. Sajwani said its global portfolio currently represents around 6GW of planned data-centre capacity, with a target of 10GW by the end of 2027.
The planned portfolio comprises approximately 1GW in the United States, 2.5GW in Europe and 2.5GW in Asia. These figures describe development plans rather than capacity already operating.
The group is focusing on large facilities starting at around 100MW, primarily using liquid cooling to support high-density computing and advanced AI chips. It is negotiating a substantial land acquisition in Australia and assessing expansion in the United Kingdom.
Power and equipment shape the next stage
Sajwani said access to suitable land, electricity and essential equipment remains central to delivering these projects. He identified supply-chain disruption and equipment delays as particularly significant constraints.
According to his estimates, data-centre development costs have risen by around 30 per cent and could increase further. He nevertheless expects demand for AI services to keep growing, while acknowledging that technology valuations may experience corrections.
For future investments, he emphasised direct relationships with entrepreneurs and close attention to company performance, alongside careful planning of the power, logistics and infrastructure needed to bring new data centres into operation.
