Abu Dhabi-based sovereign cloud and AI operator Core42, a G42 company, has secured $550 million in structured trade finance from banking giant HSBC. The capital is designated to accelerate the deployment of its AI cloud and compute infrastructure across the United States and Europe.
Quick Facts
- Financing: $550 million from HSBC
- Structure: Non-equity dilutive trade finance
- Purpose: Scale AI infrastructure in US & Europe
Banking on Compute: A New Asset Class
The deal with HSBC signals a significant shift in how institutional capital views AI infrastructure. By structuring $550 million in trade finance specifically around Core42’s deployment cycles and contracted demand, the bank is underwriting AI compute capacity with the same discipline applied to traditional long-duration industrial assets.
The two facilities, worth $240 million and $310 million, are purpose-built for AI’s capital-intensive nature. They are tied to long-term enterprise workloads, allowing Core42 to finance large-scale capacity buildouts without diluting equity. This preserves the company’s ownership structure while providing the financial muscle to meet growing demand from enterprise and government clients.
Fueling European and US Expansion
The financing arrives as Core42’s international expansion programmes are already in motion. The company’s US ambitions are anchored in the US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership, which has already resulted in high-profile projects like a supercomputer network with Cerebras and Maximus-01, the world’s 20th most powerful supercomputer, located in Buffalo, New York.
In Europe, Core42 has established its regional headquarters in Dublin. The company has also deployed national-scale AI infrastructure in Grenoble, France, in partnership with DataOne and Oreus, and is working with Italy’s Domyn to build what is described as Europe’s largest AI compute cluster. This new capital is set to accelerate these expansions at scale.
Core42’s Sovereign AI Strategy
Core42 operates the G42 Intelligence Grid, which it describes as a global factory for manufactured intelligence. This grid serves as the foundational layer for G42’s enterprise, government, and hyperscale customers.
The company’s business model merges the technical capability of a hyperscale cloud provider with the data governance, sovereignty protections, and local partnerships that government and enterprise clients increasingly require. This positions it as a key player in the growing market for sovereign AI infrastructure.
About Core42
Core42 is an Abu Dhabi-headquartered sovereign cloud and AI infrastructure operator and a subsidiary of G42. The company serves enterprise, government, and hyperscale customers, providing AI-native operations and compute capacity. It is actively expanding its footprint across Europe and the United States.
Source: Middle East AI News
