Core42 secures USD 550 mn from HSBC to scale AI infrastructure abroad

Core42 is adding more firepower to its global AI infrastructure buildout. The G42-owned sovereign cloud and AI infrastructure operator secured USD 550 mn in structured trade finance facilities from HSBC to accelerate cloud and compute deployments across the US and Europe, according to a statement (pdf).

At least one of the two packages was secured in May — in yet another vote of confidence from a global institution in UAE firms since the war started. A USD 310 mn tranche was completed in May, while a USD 240 mn one was completed in February. Both are non-equity-dilutive facilities.

Why it matters

The facilities are “pioneering” in that they offer a framework for “streamlined access to funding for future initiatives” and is at the same time non-equity dilutive — key here given Core42 is a government-owned firm, and state-owned firms in the UAE rarely give up any equity.

It’s also a sign that AI infrastructure is increasingly being financed like industrial capacity — with much bigger tickets — as investors wager on hardwired demand for compute and cloud capacity. The fact that it’s structured as trade finance means banks are treating AI compute capacity and the underlying hardware (GPUs, servers, and data center components) as an industrial-grade, exportable asset class much like oil, commodities, or electronics. HSBC said the transaction reflects stronger institutional recognition of “the unique requirements and dynamics within the technology sector.”

Demand is moving fast: US data-center grid-power demand is expected to nearly triple to 134.4 GW by 2030, according to S&P Global, underscoring why platforms with scalable cloud and compute capacity are drawing deeper institutional backing. “As enterprises and governments scale mission-critical AI workloads, the underlying cloud and compute platforms must be resilient and built to support sustained demand,” Core42 CFO Neha Gupta said.

Background

Core42’s European footprint has been widening: As we previously covered, the firm is set to operate G42’s sovereign AI cloud rollout in France, is leading operations for the Colosseum supercomputer deployment in Italy, and has been linked to a potential compute agreement with Germany’s Northern Data.

And in the US: Bloomberg recently reported that Core42 took 20 MW of capacity as the primary tenant in a Minneapolis office-to-data-center conversion, adding to its footprint in California, Texas, and New York as G42 deepens its AI infrastructure presence in the US.