Gamechangers: AI | Core42’s Talal M. Al Kaissi Believes The MENA Will Become A Global Hub For Sovereign AI
Al Kaissi was one of the innovators celebrated in the 2026 edition of Gamechangers: AI, an annual Inc. Arabia showcase of the business leaders driving the AI revolution in the MENA.
For Core42 Interim CEO Talal M. Al Kaissi, the central challenge his Abu Dhabi-based enterprise is solving sits at the heart of the MENA region’s artificial intelligence (AI) ambitions: how do you give nations, governments, and regulated industries access to frontier-scale AI without asking them to surrender control over their data, infrastructure, or sovereignty?
In response, Al Kaissi points to Core42’s AI infrastructure platform, which brings sovereign cloud, high-performance compute, and AI orchestration under one roof, without compromising on compliance or control. “This includes the Core42 Sovereign Public Cloud, built on Microsoft Azure and powered by Core42’s sovereign control platform, Insight, which embeds over 173 sovereign technical policies directly into the architecture,” Al Kaissi says. “It also includes the Core42 AI Cloud, a heterogeneous, silicon-agnostic platform giving enterprises and governments on-demand access to NVIDIA, AMD, Cerebras, and Qualcomm accelerators that are deployable within minutes, at national scale.”
That capability is already being rolled out across Core42’s customer base in the UAE, which includes Abu Dhabi’s Department of Government Enablement, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and Alef Education. Beyond the UAE, Core42 has expanded into France, Italy, and the US; plus, last year, its Maximus-01 supercomputer secured a top-20 global ranking on the TOP500 list, the industry’s most recognized benchmark for supercomputing systems.
But such wins are indicative of more than Core42’s momentum—they also signal a structural shift in the region’s AI trajectory. As Al Kaissi predicts: “Over the next decade, the MENA will be among the few places in the world where you can deploy sovereign-grade AI, access frontier-level compute, and still be plugged into global capital and technology flows.”
Pictured in the lead image is Talal M. Al Kaissi, Interim CEO of Core45. All images courtesy of Core45.
Al Kaissi was one of the innovators celebrated in the 2026 edition of Gamechangers: AI, an annual Inc. Arabia showcase of the business leaders driving the AI revolution in the MENA. Check out the full list by clicking here.
