PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a $20 billion new investment to build data centers across the United States.

At a news conference at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said the investor is Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani, chairman of DAMAC properties.

Trump introduced Hussain Sajwani, chairman of DAMAC Properties, as "one of the most respected business leaders in the Middle East, indeed the world."

Big technology companies have been racing over the past year to set up data centers essential for powering generative artificial intelligence applications such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google Gemini, which require immense computing power. Microsoft ( MSFT ) said last week it would spend about $80 billion this fiscal year to ramp up its AI capacity. Overall, global spending on procurement and installation of mechanical and electrical systems for data centers is likely to exceed $250 billion by 2030, McKinsey estimates.

(This story has been refiled to drop extraneous words in paragraph 1)