ClusterMAX 2.0Unavailable

Core42/G42

Interesting service we cannot verify yet (not launched, sold out, government-only, etc.).

ByJordan NanosDaniel NishballDylan Patel
PublishedUpdated

Core42/G42 Quick Stats

ClusterMAX Tier
Unavailable (not yet rated)
Source Rating Cycle
ClusterMAX 2.0
GPUs Offered
MI300X
Slurm Support
Discussed in review
Kubernetes Support
Discussed in review
SOC 2 Mentioned
Not flagged
NCCL Benchmarks
Not in review
Last Updated
Apr 20, 2026

Want to model Core42/G42 cluster cost? Calculate H100, H200, B200 & GB200 NVL72 TCO with the ClusterMAX calculator.

Core42 is the neocloud division of G42. G42 also operates MGX (an investment fund) and Khazna (a datacenter development company). All are based in the UAE.

We have covered these companies extensively in our Datacenter Model, and public articles such as: https://newsletter.semianalysis.com/p/ai-arrives-in-the-middle-east-us-strikes-a-deal-with-uae-and-ksa with recent updates showing that a tit-for-tat deal of a measly 10T USD has resulted in an export license being granted and NVIDIA resuming shipments of GPUs to the UAE.

At this time we have not been able to access and test a cluster provided by Core42. We regret the difficulties and look forward to testing Core42 services in the future.

ClusterMAX 2.1 Update (April 2026)

Core42 is a division of G42 with a massive presence in the UAE and a growing presence in the US. With the backing of MGX, and the sister company Khazna Datacenters, all of whom are intimately involved with Stargate UAE, the group means business. Back on the US side, Core42 is also making moves. They have established small sites in San Jose, Grenoble, and 70MW of MI300X in Buffalo (via Terawulf). During our testing we were provided with both slurm and kubernetes clusters from that site, using AMD MI300X GPUs, and crucially some Broadcom Thor-II NICs. This was the first cluster we'd gotten with Thor-II during clustermax testing, and it was a battle. Every single container image we had previously tested on AMD clusters, and nearly every AMD base image they publish to rocm repos such as vllm, sglang, torchtitan, and MoRI are all built with AMDs own Pollara NICs. This meant downloading tarballs from Broadcom's driver search website, scp'ing the files over to the cluster nodes, and rebuilding containers from scratch. A headache to say the least. Notably, the Core42 engineering team was ready to help the entire way, from troubleshooting these driver recipe issues to debugging slurm user errors on our side it was a really strong showing of hands-on, proactive technical support. If Core42 launches some modern GPUs in the US or starts relaxing the compliance restrictions they have in place that prevent us from testing in the UAE sites (or anyone from outside UAE renting GPUs at those sites) we expect Core42 to quickly rise into the silver tier and beyond.

Core42/G42 GPU Cloud FAQ

What tier is Core42/G42 in ClusterMAX?

Core42/G42 is rated Unavailable tier in the ClusterMAX 2.0 GPU cloud rating system by SemiAnalysis (with the ClusterMAX 2.1 Update applied April 2026). Unavailable is tracked by ClusterMAX but not yet directly verifiable for hands-on testing. Interesting service we cannot verify yet (not launched, sold out, government-only, etc.).

Is Core42/G42 SOC 2 Type II certified?

Core42/G42's ClusterMAX review does not flag a SOC 2 Type II attestation as confirmed. SemiAnalysis treats SOC 2 Type II as a baseline expectation for any GPU cloud serving enterprise or regulated AI workloads — see the ClusterMAX criteria page for the full security baseline.

Does Core42/G42 support Slurm?

Yes. The Core42/G42 review on ClusterMAX covers their Slurm offering — including whether it is managed, self-managed, or runs as Slurm-on-Kubernetes (SUNK, Soperator, or Slinky). See the Orchestration section of the review for the specific Slurm flavor offered and SemiAnalysis' hands-on experience.

Does Core42/G42 support Kubernetes?

Yes. The Core42/G42 review on ClusterMAX covers their Kubernetes offering — whether managed Kubernetes is provided, what control plane is used, and how GPU operator, networking, and storage integrate. See the Orchestration and Storage sections of the review for details.

What GPUs does Core42/G42 offer?

Based on the SemiAnalysis hands-on review, Core42/G42 offers (or has been publicly tied to) the following NVIDIA / AMD GPU SKUs: MI300X. Specific inventory, region availability, and on-demand vs reserved access are detailed in the Core42/G42 ClusterMAX review.

What is the NCCL all-reduce performance on Core42/G42?

Core42/G42's ClusterMAX review does not yet publish hands-on NCCL all-reduce results. NCCL all-reduce bandwidth is the standard SemiAnalysis benchmark for InfiniBand / RoCE health on GPU clusters — see the ClusterMAX /health-checks page for the full benchmark methodology.

How does Core42/G42 compare to CoreWeave?

CoreWeave is the only ClusterMAX Platinum provider, while Core42/G42 is rated Unavailable. The Core42/G42 review documents the specific gaps versus CoreWeave across the 10 ClusterMAX criteria (Security, Lifecycle, Orchestration, Storage, Networking, Reliability, Monitoring, Pricing, Partnerships, Availability). See the Core42/G42 review body and the ClusterMAX /criteria page for the full comparison framework.

Is Core42/G42 recommended for LLM training?

Core42/G42's current ClusterMAX rating (Unavailable) means SemiAnalysis does not directly recommend Core42/G42 for production LLM training without first addressing the specific gaps called out in the review. See the Core42/G42 review for the gating issues and see the ClusterMAX /cloudreview index for currently recommended alternatives in Platinum / Gold / Silver / Bronze.

All ClusterMAX™ 2.0 + 2.1 reviews