Two structured trade finance facilities, arranged with HSBC over the first five months of 2026, will underwrite Core42's capacity buildouts in France, Italy and the United States — giving the UAE-headquartered operator the institutional capital to accelerate its European push without diluting equity.
The facilities total USD 550 million across two tranches: a USD 240 million arrangement completed in February and a USD 310 million deal closed in May. Both are structured as non-equity dilutive instruments, designed to match AI infrastructure's capital profile — long build cycles, contracted demand, and high upfront cost relative to near-term cash generation.
Core42, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi-based holding group G42, operates sovereign cloud and AI infrastructure for enterprise, government and hyperscale customers. Its European footprint is anchored by a Dublin headquarters, with active deployments in France and Italy already underway.
"The trade finance facilities represent a defining moment for Core42 and for the broader AI infrastructure sector, reflecting growing institutional recognition of AI architecture as long-duration, industrial-grade capacity"
Framing AI data centres as long-duration industrial infrastructure — rather than technology assets on software depreciation timelines — has become the standard financing argument across the sector. HSBC's participation gives that argument a significant institutional endorsement: a major global bank structuring bespoke trade finance for an AI operator is a different signal from a venture round.
"These pioneering structures are designed to support the financing of Core42's current deployment, while also establishing a robust framework that enables streamlined access to funding for future initiatives"
Trade finance, rather than equity or conventional debt, lets Core42 align capital drawdown with deployment milestones. The company says the facilities will support capacity tied to long-term contracted demand from enterprise and government customers across its US and European markets.
