Inside e& UAE and Core42's Sovereign AI Cloud Strategy

A new partnership between e& UAE and Core42 aims to give UAE organisations access to in-country AI compute through a sovereign infrastructure platform.

Core42, part of the G42 group, specialises in sovereign cloud, AI infrastructure and digital services, while e& is the telecoms arm of global technology group e&, headquartered in the UAE.

The companies have launched a Sovereign AI Compute platform to provide immediate access to local GPU infrastructure, enabling organisations to build and deploy AI applications while keeping sensitive data within the UAE's borders.

Building sovereign AI infrastructure

The new platform combines Core42's Sovereign AI Cloud with e& UAE's national connectivity, digital infrastructure and professional services, creating a single environment for deploying AI workloads.

Instead of investing in costly on-premises GPU clusters or relying on overseas cloud capacity, organisations can access sovereign AI infrastructure through a managed service.

It supports the full AI lifecycle, from model training and fine-tuning to inference and production deployment while keeping workloads and data resident within the UAE.

The partnership comes with the rising demand for AI infrastructure, as many organisations face shortages of local GPU capacity and lengthy deployment times for dedicated hardware.

Esam Mahmoud, Senior Vice President, SMB Sales and Marketing, e& UAE, says: "AI is becoming a key part of how organisations operate.

"Through our collaboration with Core42, we are enabling UAE enterprises and government entities a simpler, faster and more secure way to access sovereign GPU infrastructure, connect their data and operationalise AI at scale.

"This directly supports the UAE’s vision to build an AI-native economy and advance the national agentic AI agenda by enabling organisations to deploy intelligent systems that can analyse, decide and act with greater speed and confidence.

"The value of this platform is not only AI compute; it is the combination of AI infrastructure, private connectivity, local support and a practical route to production."

Supporting critical workloads

The Sovereign AI Compute platform is designed for sectors where data sovereignty and secure infrastructure are essential, including government, healthcare, financial services, energy, education, retail, manufacturing, industrial operations and large enterprises.

Customers gain access to Core42's heterogeneous GPU infrastructure alongside implementation services through Core42 Delivery Services.

e& UAE complements this with dedicated, carrier-grade, high-bandwidth connectivity that links enterprise environments directly to sovereign AI infrastructure.

The service is also intended to reduce barriers to AI adoption by removing upfront capital expenditure requirements while offering a commercial model with zero egress fees. Organisations can deploy AI projects more quickly while meeting in-country data residency requirements.

Alongside the new compute platform, e& UAE is also introducing GPU Connect, a bundled service combining GPU resources with premium connectivity in a single package to simplify AI deployments.

Resilience beyond compute

The two companies are also collaborating on measures to strengthen the resilience of critical AI services and safeguard national digital continuity across the UAE.

Jaafar Al Hashmi, VP of Government Relations and Market Development, Core42, says: "AI deployment at scale demands infrastructure that can operate securely, compliantly and with the resilience required for real-world execution.

"This partnership with e& UAE extends sovereign AI from foundational infrastructure into an operational capability, integrating compute, connectivity and implementation into a single framework built for deployment.

"By strengthening these invisible foundations, we are enabling organisations across the UAE to move beyond AI ambition and towards sustained, production-grade execution."

The collaboration also builds on Core42's wider work in sovereign digital infrastructure, including its Signature National Disaster Recovery Cloud.

That service is designed to help governments, regulated industries and operators of national critical infrastructure maintain operational continuity during national-scale disruptions.