Core42 Launches UAE Partner Program With Over 50 Partners

Summary

• Core42 launched a partner program to widen sovereign cloud and AI options across the UAE.
• The program starts with over 50 partners and 47 Abu Dhabi government entities on Core42's sovereign cloud.
• It positions G42's cloud arm as the channel through which regulated UAE workloads reach third-party AI software.

The latest

More than 50 partners are joining a new program from Core42 aimed at widening the range of sovereign-enabled cloud and AI solutions available in the UAE, the G42 company announced in Abu Dhabi on October 5, 2026. Core42 said 47 Abu Dhabi government entities already run on its sovereign cloud. The program is built around two separate partner tracks.

Details

• The structure: Core42 said the program runs on two tracks. Technology Partners covers independent software vendors and startups building solutions on the Core42 platform. Channel Partners covers resellers and solution providers that sell and deploy those solutions to end customers.
• The scale: The program launches with a network of more than 50 partners, according to Core42. The company said 47 Abu Dhabi government entities are already running on its sovereign cloud, giving incoming partners an installed public-sector base rather than a market they would have to build from zero.
• Partner incentives: Qualified partners receive sales support, technical expertise, architecture reviews and sandbox environments, Core42 said. The package also includes Compass token credits, joint marketing opportunities, and co-investment funding directed at projects the company designates as priority.
• The executive case: Ahmed Labib, VP Partnerships and Ecosystems at Core42, said government and regulated industries need greater choice in cloud and AI solutions while "retaining clarity over where their data sits, how their environment is governed and which controls apply to each workload."
• The sovereignty pitch: Core42 framed the offer around data residency and governance control rather than raw capacity. The company's argument is that regulated buyers in the UAE want more supplier options without losing visibility into the location of their data and the controls applied to each individual workload.
• Who it targets: The named customer category is government and regulated industries, the segment where procurement rules on data location and auditability are tightest. Core42 did not identify which of the 47 Abu Dhabi entities are on the platform, nor which sectors the more than 50 partners come from.
• Undisclosed terms: Core42 did not publish qualification thresholds for partner tiers, the size of the co-investment funding pool, or the value of Compass token credits. No timeline was given for expanding the program beyond the UAE, and no revenue or onboarding targets were attached to it.
• The corporate owner: Core42 is a G42 company, the Abu Dhabi group that anchors much of the emirate's AI and cloud build-out. The announcement was issued from Abu Dhabi, the same jurisdiction supplying the 47 government entities cited as existing sovereign cloud customers.

Background

Sovereign cloud refers to infrastructure where data stays inside a defined national jurisdiction under local governance rules. Gulf governments have made that a procurement condition for public-sector and regulated workloads, limiting which providers can compete for those contracts.

Between the lines

The program reads as a distribution play. Core42 already holds the sovereign-compliant infrastructure 47 Abu Dhabi government entities sit on, but not the application layer those entities will eventually buy. Recruiting over 50 technology and channel partners imports that software layer onto its platform, with Compass credits, sandboxes and co-investment lowering the cost for vendors to build there first.

What's next

Watch for named partners and the first solutions published on the Core42 platform, disclosure of tier criteria or co-investment amounts, growth in the 47-entity government base, and any extension of the program beyond the UAE.

Source: Core42 (G42)