Abu Dhabi clean energy company Masdar aims to strengthen its presence in the US and is open to new acquisitions or building new plants in the country amid a data centre boom spurred by artificial intelligence use.
"We see the US as a significant market as it stands today and as a significant market going forward," Mazin Khan, chief financial officer of Masdar, told The National in an interview on the sidelines of World Future Energy Summit.
"The US is going through unprecedented growth, especially now with the rise of AI and the data centres that are being rolled out, and trillions of dollars are being invested on that front ... renewables are very well placed to meet those energy requirements."
While the AI race is global, the US is leading the data centre story so far, a recent S&P Global report found. It estimates that US data-centre capacity represents more than 40 per cent of the global total and that figure is projected to continue growing.
Companies including Google, Microsoft and Meta are spending billions to build data centres in the US, in turn boosting energy demand.
Demand for energy, including new grids and data centres, will require up to $4 trillion in investment annually, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and Adnoc's managing director and group chief executive, told Adipec last year.
Mr Khan said: "Renewables are best placed to serve rise in energy requirements as a wind farm or a solar farm can be set up in 12 to 18 months time as compared to a conventional gas fired or coal fired plant, which will take you three to five years time."
The company is keeping "all options open", in terms of boosting its presence in the US, including acquisitions.
"We have a significant amount of opportunities in terms of overall growth and building new plants, but again, for us all options stay on the table."
Masdar, jointly owned by Taqa, Adnoc and Mubadala, has a strong portfolio in the US, with wind, solar and battery energy storage projects in California, Texas, New York state and New Mexico, its website says.
The company, which is active in more than 40 countries with a combined capacity of 65 gigawatts, made investments “worth $15 billion” in renewable energy projects around the globe last year.
It also entered new markets such as Spain and Greece in 2025 as part of its global expansion plans.
In October, it announced the acquisition of a 49.99 per cent stake in a €368 million ($432 million) portfolio of four operational solar photovoltaic plants from Endesa in Spain, expanding its presence in Europe.
"These new markets that we've entered into, we will be looking to double down and expand further."
The company also bought a majority stake in Greece's Terna Energy as part of its international expansion plans last year.
Existing markets such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and others in the Middle East will also remain important, Mr Khan said. The two Arab countries continued to be the biggest contributors to its revenue last year.
Masdar reported a revenue of Dh1.72 billion ($468 million) at the end of first half of 2025, with total assets worth Dh66.3 billion, according to its financial statement.
The company is also looking to raise more money through bond issuances.
It raised $2.75 billion through green bonds so far, with plans for "repeat issuances" to fund its growth target of 100 gigawatts by 2030 in the next few years, Mr Khan said.
"We will be looking to potentially expand our bond programme and do more issuances in the near future."
The company's growth targets will also be achieved through project finance as well as through its own equity and shareholder contributions.
