Alpha Dhabi 'exploring' building UAE data centres amid AI boom

Holding company could 'indirectly' participate by building facilities, senior executive says

Derek Nicholson, left, Alpha Dhabi's chief strategy and investor relations officer, with Fadi Sleiman, group chief finance officer, in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. Alvin R Cabral / The National

Alpha Dhabi Holding, a unit of Abu Dhabi's International Holding Company, is open to “indirectly” tapping into the UAE's growing data centre market as it expands its portfolio, a senior executive said on Tuesday.

The investment company, with total assets of nearly Dh200 billion ($54.5 billion), does not have plans to invest in data centres, but would consider building the key components of the artificial intelligence boom, chief strategy and investor relations officer Derek Nicholson told The National.

“Indirectly, we can participate in some of the [technology] transformation that's happening here in the UAE … someone has to build [the data centres], so we could build that through our construction division and we're actively exploring opportunities,” he said, speaking at a media conference in Abu Dhabi.

Mr Nicholson was referring to Trojan Construction Group, which he said could create a division to build data centres. Alpha Dhabi was known as Trojan Holding before a rebrand and initial public offering in 2021.

“This is a significant growth area for that [as they are] going to be the construction projects of the future and if you can deliver and specialise in that, there can be significant new markets that can be available to us,” Mr Nicholson added.

The UAE, Abu Dhabi in particular, has made a flurry of moves to advance its technology sector, especially amid the AI boom, such as the 1-gigawatt Stargate data centre to be built in the UAE capital.

“If we see something in data centres, then we could consider it and it would go through our investment screening process,” Mr Nicholson said. “We have a lot of capital that we're looking to deploy and our job is to find the best ones.”

Alpha Dhabi has plans to float more of its companies, although it has yet to determine how many, which ones and when, Mr Nicholson said. The listings would most probably be on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, owing to the strength of the emirate's stock market, he added.

“When we think [our companies] reach the right level, then they're ready to go on the stock market,” he said.

Tariff impact 'virtually zero'

The sweeping tariffs imposed by the US government have had “virtually zero” impact on Alpha Dhabi's business, owing to “very detailed due diligence”, Mr Nicholson said.

“If we were going to invest in a particular country or a sector, we would look to see if there was any impact on the tariffs, but the tariffs have had virtually zero impact on our business,” he said.

Net profit for the three months ending in June soared more than 117 per cent year-on-year to Dh4.53 billion, the company said in a filing to ADX, where its shares trade.

Revenue for the period jumped nearly 22 per cent year-on-year to Dh18.43 billion.

For the first half of 2025, Alpha Dhabi's profit inched down 0.7 per cent annually to Dh6.63 billion, despite a decrease in non-recurring accounting adjustments of Dh1.4 billion.

Revenue for the six-month period leapt 22.3 per cent year-on-year to Dh35.85 billion, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation – a key metric for profitability – jumped 34 per cent to Dh8.4 billion.

Alpha Dhabi's industrial portfolio made the biggest contribution to its first-half revenue with Dh13.4 billion, followed by real estate's Dh12.8 billion and construction's Dh6 billion.

“The majority of our revenue are growing. There's a lot of tailwinds that are coming in from the initiatives that the [UAE] government is launching [and] we're benefiting from that,” Mr Nicholson said.

BX2025 Abu Dhabi: Artificial intelligence takes centre stage

02:00

“Our companies are doing exceptionally well in terms of the growth that they're achieving.”

Alpha Dhabi has grown into a regional conglomerate with interests in construction, health care, hospitality and industry after completing a series of acquisitions in 2021 and 2022.

The conglomerate, through its entities, has been investing in Europe, the US and Africa.

Among the biggest names under Alpha Dhabi's portfolio are Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi's biggest listed developer; Pure Health, the largest health care group in the Middle East and North Africa; NMDC Group, the biggest engineering, procurement and construction company in the Middle East, and Trojan Construction, the industry's top group in the UAE.

In May, Alpha Dhabi signed a partnership agreement with Abu Dhabi's Al Jazira Sports Club to run until the end of the 2027-28 football season.