Core42 raises $550m from HSBC for AI buildouts in the US and Europe
The two structured trade finance facilities are non-dilutive and meant to shorten deployment cycles for AI cloud capacity.
Core42 has arranged $550 million in structured trade finance with HSBC, split across two facilities that the Abu Dhabi-headquartered AI infrastructure provider says will speed up its cloud and compute deployments in the United States and Europe. The arrangement was announced on a Monday.
The first facility, worth $240 million, closed in February 2026. The second, at $310 million, closed in May 2026. Both are structured as trade finance rather than equity, which means the funding does not dilute existing shareholders. Core42 said the design gives it room to move on buildouts tied to long-term contracted demand and enterprise-grade workloads without loosening its approach to capital allocation.
Structured finance as a competitive lever
Neha Gupta, Core42's chief financial officer, described the facilities as a defining moment for the company and for the AI infrastructure sector, and said they reflect growing institutional recognition of AI architecture as long-duration, industrial-grade capacity. HSBC's trade facilities, she said, strengthen Core42's ability to deploy capacity quickly in the US and Europe while keeping financial discipline and a long-term growth framework intact.
The company argues that access to structured trade finance is turning into a strategic advantage as AI shifts from experimentation to mission-critical deployment. In that reading, capital is concentrating behind platforms that can show operational depth, contracted visibility and disciplined growth frameworks — and the two facilities add sophistication to Core42's capital stack alongside its strategic hyperscaler and sovereign partnerships.
Core42 positions itself as a sovereign AI infrastructure provider serving enterprise, government and hyperscale customers, and says demand from those three groups is what the financing is meant to support. Gupta said enterprises and governments scaling mission-critical AI workloads need cloud and compute platforms built for sustained demand rather than burst capacity.
Europe buildout and governance
The company is extending its sovereign AI ecosystem model into Europe, anchored by a European headquarters in Dublin, with deployments underway in Italy and France. It also works with local governance partners in key markets.
Roopal Jobanputra, Core42's general counsel, said industrial AI infrastructure demands structural discipline, and that the facilities are built for long-term deployment at scale while preserving governance and cross-border clarity for mission-critical infrastructure.
Shaikha AlMarri, HSBC's head of banking for the UAE, said the structures are designed to finance Core42's current deployment and to create a framework for streamlined future funding. She said the bank's flexibility reflects an appreciation of the technology sector's specific requirements and dynamics.
The deal illustrates how sovereign-backed AI programmes in the Gulf are increasingly financed through bank-intermediated structures rather than pure equity. MGX, the Abu Dhabi investment vehicle, reviewed strategic investments in OpenAI and Isomorphic Labs at its second board meeting of 2026 — a reminder that the same capital pool now spans data centres, model developers and the compute contracts that sit between them. Trade finance gives Core42 a way to fund the hardware-heavy middle of that chain without re-opening its ownership structure.
