Core42 Accelerates Digital Transformation Through Advanced AI and Technology Innovation

GULF TIME

Yousef Al Harmoodi, Chief Business Development Officer at Core42, shares insights into the company’s latest innovations presented at GITEX, its expanding partnerships with government and global technology leaders, and its ongoing efforts to build a trusted, sovereign digital infrastructure that supports the UAE’s vision for an AI-powered future.

Yousef Al Harmoodi, Chief Business Development Officer, Core42

Q1. What are the key innovations that Core42’s highlighting this year at GITEX, and how do they reflect Core42’s role in advancing the Middle East’s digital transformation agenda?

A – At GITEX this year, Core42 is showcasing the technologies that are driving the next phase of digital transformation in the UAE and across the Middle East. We are taking centre stage within the G42 District in AI Hall 6, highlighting our role as the digital infrastructure arm of the G42 ecosystem. Our aim is to showcase how our full suite of cloud and AI innovations is making advanced computing more accessible, more secure, and more aligned with national and regional priorities for digital growth.
A major highlight of our participation is the introduce of our AI Cloud, a high-performance, scalable, and sovereign platform that brings every leading accelerator together under one roof, providing a unified solution for all training, fine-tuning, and inference needs. We have already announced the launch of self-service capabilities within our AI Cloud that allow users to access NVIDIA-accelerated compute within minutes, bringing unprecedented speed, flexibility and accessibility to large-scale AI development. We will continue to announce new partnerships designed to extend the UAE’s technological leadership globally, as we simultaneously demonstrate key offerings such as our Sovereign Public Cloud, our Signature Private Cloud – which is currently in Customer Preview, and our Compass generative AI platform.
Visitors to our stand can also experience our industry-leading Sovereign Public Cloud, which already empowers more than 50 public and private organizations across the UAE, the Signature Private Cloud, which is currently in customer preview, and the Compass generative AI platform. Together, these solutions form a comprehensive technology stack that supports every stage of the digital and AI transformation journey, from secure data management to enterprise-scale AI applications.
Overall, our showcase at GITEX reflects Core42’s commitment to building the digital and AI foundations that enable governments and enterprises to innovate with confidence. Through this, we continue to advance the Middle East’s digital transformation agenda and strengthen the region’s position as a global leader in trusted, sovereign, and AI-ready infrastructure.

Q2. Partnerships are central to Core42’s growth story. Could you share how your collaborations with government entities and technology leaders are supporting the UAE’s ambition to become a global hub for AI innovation?

A – Partnerships are at the heart of Core42’s strategy to scale digital transformation and strengthen the UAE’s position as a global hub for AI innovation. We believe progress happens through collaboration, and our work with government entities and leading technology partners is creating the infrastructure, ecosystems, and capabilities that make AI accessible, secure, and impactful across the region.
As part of the G42 ecosystem, we play a central role in advancing the Intelligence Grid vision, which connects infrastructure, intelligence, and innovation into a unified national framework. Our collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Department of Government Enablement is a strong example, where we are helping to process more than 11 million daily digital interactions through a sovereign cloud system that supports the UAE’s goal of becoming the world’s first fully AI-native government by 2027.
On the global stage, our partnership with Microsoft reflects how we are bringing world-class innovation to the UAE while ensuring it aligns with local data and compliance priorities. As part of G42’s broader landmark collaboration with Microsoft, we have built the Sovereign Public Cloud on Microsoft Azure, and integrated Core42’s Insight controls platform to combine hyperscale capabilities with national data assurance. This has given UAE organizations access to the scalability and features of a global hyperscaler, while still maintaining full sovereignty over their data, workloads, and AI models.
We are also expanding our international footprint through strategic collaborations across Europe. In France for example, we partnered with AMD to establish a state-of-the-art AI data centre in Grenoble, and joined forces with Oréus to provide in-country access to scalable compute capacity. In Italy, we partnered with iGenius to deploy Europe’s largest AI compute cluster powered by NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs, marking a major milestone in advancing sovereign AI infrastructure for European markets. And we entered into a strategic partnership with Northern Data Group to provide access to large-scale European sovereign AI Cloud capacity, supported by up to 10,000 GPUs from its Taiga Cloud business, to help meet growing demand for high-performance compute.
Through these partnerships, Core42 is building an ecosystem where innovation, compliance, and collaboration work in harmony. Together with our partners, we are creating the foundations of a trusted, AI-enabled future that positions the UAE and the wider Middle East at the centre of global AI progress.
Q3. As a technology partner to the government sector, how is Core42 helping public institutions integrate AI responsibly and build the foundation for an AI-ready, digitally empowered nation?

A – Core42 plays a central role in helping public institutions integrate AI responsibly and build the foundation for an AI-ready, digitally empowered nation. Our sovereign-by-design infrastructure, combined with deep expertise in cloud, data, and governance, enables governments to adopt AI in mission-critical systems with confidence, compliance, and scale.

One of our key collaborations is with the Abu Dhabi Department of Government Enablement, where we are supporting a sovereign cloud system that processes more than 11 million digital interactions each day. This initiative is a cornerstone of Abu Dhabi’s ambition to become the world’s first AI-native government by 2027, and shows how the responsible use of AI can enhance efficiency, improve service delivery, and strengthen citizen trust while ensuring data protection and regulatory alignment. We have also partnered with the UAE Accountability Authority to advance governance, transparency, and public accountability in AI adoption. This collaboration helps ensure that every stage of AI deployment meets ethical and regulatory standards and reinforces integrity in public service.
The Core42 Sovereign Public Cloud continues to empower The Core42 Sovereign Public Cloud enables government entities and regulated industries to securely deploy, manage, and scale services within a compliant, nationally governed cloud environment. Today, more than 50 public and private entities, including those in highly regulated sectors such as government, finance, and healthcare, are building and scaling their digital transformation and AI workloads on the platform. To provide an additional option for classified and top-secret data environments, we are also introducing the Signature Private Cloud to support industries such as defense and national security that require the highest levels of assurance and control.
Across these and other initiatives, Core42 continues to work closely with government partners, regulators, and technology leaders to embed sovereignty, security, and responsibility into every layer of AI infrastructure. Our goal is to help the UAE and the wider region build AI-enabled public services that are trusted, resilient, and transformative for their citizens.

Q4. As we look toward the future, how will Core42’s technological innovations and initiatives shape the company’s roadmap for 2026 and beyond?

A – Our focus for 2026 and beyond is built around accelerating the adoption of sovereign cloud and AI technologies across the Middle East, while expanding our footprint globally through strategic collaborations that connect regional innovation with international opportunity. Our Sovereign Public Cloud offering, developed in collaboration with Microsoft, has already proven its value here in the UAE. It represents the first complete Sovereign Public Cloud offering in the country and has become a benchmark for combining global scale with national sovereignty. Building on this success, Core42 is now exploring opportunities to export this model to other regions that share the same vision for secure and sovereign AI infrastructure.
Additionally, we will continue to advance our AI Cloud to meet growing demand for high-performance, sovereign compute, and to make AI development faster, more efficient, and more accessible to enterprises, governments, and research institutions. The forthcoming Signature Private Cloud will also play a key role in serving industries that require the highest levels of assurance and control, while Compass will bring the benefits of generative AI to regulated environments through secure and compliant APIs.
Overall, our goal is to enable every government and enterprise that we support to harness the full potential of AI securely, sustainably, and in alignment with national and regional priorities for digital transformation.