Core42 secures $550M HSBC facility to scale AI infrastructure in US and Europe
What's the deal? Core42Dealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a UAE-headquartered AI infrastructure operator, has arranged two structured trade finance facilities totalling $550M with HSBCDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to accelerate cloud and compute deployments across the United States and Europe.
The facilities — $240M completed in February 2026 and $310M in May 2026 — are purpose-built to support Core42's capital-intensive AI cloud infrastructure rollouts. Both are non-equity dilutive, meaning existing shareholders won't see their stakes watered down.
Why now? Demand for AI compute capacity is surging globally, and Core42 is racing to build out large-scale infrastructure tied to long-term contracted demand and enterprise-grade workloads. The facilities are designed to accelerate time-to-market for these deployments.
Core42 serves enterprise, government, and hyperscale customers, and has been expanding its footprint beyond the UAE into the US and Europe — two markets where competition for AI infrastructure is fierce.
What could go wrong? Trade finance facilities are tied to specific deployment cycles, meaning any delays in infrastructure buildouts could complicate the arrangement. The AI infrastructure market is also increasingly crowded, with hyperscalers and well-funded rivals investing tens of billions in data centres worldwide.
Geopolitical dynamics could also pose challenges. A UAE-based operator scaling sensitive compute infrastructure in the US and Europe may face regulatory scrutiny, particularly as Western governments tighten oversight of foreign involvement in critical technology.
The signal: Core42's use of structured trade finance rather than equity to fund its expansion marks a notable shift in how late-growth AI infrastructure companies are capitalising their buildouts — prioritising non-dilutive debt tied to contracted demand over traditional venture rounds. As a G42 subsidiary already serving sovereign and enterprise clients, Core42's push into the US and Europe suggests Gulf-backed AI ventures are moving beyond domestic mandates to compete directly with Western hyperscalers, with global banks like HSBC increasingly willing to underwrite that ambition at scale.
Read more: cxoinsightme.com
