Red Hat and Core42 Partner on Sovereign AI Infrastructure

Red Hat and Core42 announced a collaboration to build sovereign cloud and AI infrastructure for the public sector, defense organizations, and regulated industries across the UAE. The companies unveiled the partnership during Red Hat Summit on May 11.

The collaboration centers on deploying sovereign-by-design cloud environments using Red Hat OpenShift and Red Hat AI to support AI workloads that require local data residency, operational control, and regulatory compliance.

Core42 said the infrastructure model allows organizations to place lower-sensitivity workloads in sovereign public cloud environments while keeping classified or mission-critical systems inside private cloud deployments. The companies said the structure is designed for government agencies, defense entities, and other industries handling regulated data.

The partnership comes as governments and enterprises increase investment in sovereign AI infrastructure

to maintain control over data, compute resources, and AI governance frameworks. Analysts and infrastructure providers have increasingly framed sovereignty as a requirement for enterprise AI deployments involving national infrastructure and sensitive workloads.

Infrastructure Focused on AI Governance and Compute Control

Red Hat said the collaboration focuses on four areas: GPU optimization, AI workload orchestration, standardized model onboarding, and governance controls tied to jurisdictional requirements.

Ashesh Badani, Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer at Red Hat, said open-source infrastructure provides the foundation for sovereign AI systems that require transparency and operational flexibility.

“Open, transparent and scalable platforms like Red Hat AI and Red Hat OpenShift form the backbone of sovereign IT,” Badani said in the announcement.

Core42 has been expanding its AI infrastructure footprint across the UAE through cloud, HPC, and sovereign AI initiatives. The company previously launched the Maximus-384 supercomputer cluster, which ranked among the world’s top supercomputers in the TOP500 rankings.

The broader UAE AI ecosystem has also accelerated over the last year through projects tied to G42 and large-scale infrastructure deployments. Recent activity includes the Stargate UAE initiative involving OpenAI, Oracle, NVIDIA, Cisco, and SoftBank Group.

The Red Hat-Core42 partnership adds another layer to the UAE’s push to build domestic AI infrastructure that can support both public-sector modernization and enterprise AI deployment. Related infrastructure investment patterns have also emerged in enterprise AI infrastructure projects across healthcare, cloud computing, and industrial operations.

Sovereign Cloud Demand Expands Beyond the UAE

The partnership also reflects broader demand for sovereign cloud infrastructure in Europe and the Middle East as governments tighten rules around data handling, AI oversight, and digital infrastructure ownership.

Research firm Gartner projected worldwide sovereign cloud infrastructure-as-a-service spending would reach $80 billion in 2026, up 35.6% year over year.

Industry analysts have increasingly linked sovereign cloud adoption to AI deployment requirements because advanced AI systems require large-scale compute infrastructure, governance controls, and regional compliance capabilities.

Core42 said it plans to expand the sovereign AI infrastructure model beyond the UAE into additional international markets. The company said future deployments will focus on regional and jurisdiction-specific infrastructure requirements for AI-ready cloud environments.