Core42 leases Minneapolis office building to convert into 20 MW AI data center

Core42, the cloud and AI infrastructure subsidiary of Abu Dhabi's G42 Group, has signed a lease for a converted office complex in downtown Minneapolis. The building will be refitted as a data center with a capacity of 20 megawatts. Bloomberg confirmed the deal this week.

Who is behind the investment

G42 is an investment and technology conglomerate of the United Arab Emirates based in Abu Dhabi. The company controls a portfolio ranging from logistics to AI, but in recent years it has focused on cloud computing. Core42 is its technology star, a subsidiary that competes directly with AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.

Core42 is growing quickly thanks to demand for AI infrastructure in the Middle East and in developing countries that are looking for an alternative to the dominant American providers. The new US data center is a strategic move: the American market remains the largest consumer of cloud services, and a local presence is critical for any serious player.

The building at 1001 Third Avenue South is in downtown Minneapolis. It used to be an office; now the complex is being rebuilt to house server racks, cooling systems and networking components. Converting offices into data centers is a typical trend: commercial real estate is losing demand, while cloud infrastructure is growing.

Irony and a geopolitical shift

The story of the deal is rich in symbolism. Two decades ago, Silicon Valley looked like the undisputed center of the cloud revolution. The US, California, Google, Amazon: that was the whole cloud world. Competitors existed only inside the US. Now an investor from the Persian Gulf is building its own data center on American soil, without asking the tech giants for their blessing.

G42 is not the first Middle Eastern player to invest in the US cloud, but the scale is impressive:

• 20 megawatts is a serious size even for a mid-sized data center
• A long-term contract (which makes it a strategic asset)
• Direct competition with global hyperscalers on their home turf
• A signal that the Middle East is no longer just a consumer of the cloud, but a producer of it

Control of global infrastructure used to sit with three companies: Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Now clear alternatives are emerging. For governments and corporations that wanted to avoid American lock-in, that is good news. For the hyperscalers, it means pressure.

Expansion beyond regional borders

Core42 is known for its work in the MENA region, the Middle East and North Africa. The company's data centers serve local startups, governments and oil and gas corporations. But investing in only one region is a strategic mistake.

Minneapolis is an entry point into the North American market. From there, Core42 can serve American companies that are looking for a cloud outside the big three (AWS, Google, Azure). These could be startups concerned about diversification, or companies worried about data sovereignty, meaning where their data physically resides.

"The global cloud market is moving from monopoly to a polycentric model," is the trend

Core42 sees, and it is the first to start building alternative infrastructure.

What this means

Core42's Minneapolis deal redefines who controls global AI infrastructure. The US no longer only produces the cloud; it also hosts its competitors' cloud. For enterprises and startups, this is a step toward more choice and lower prices. For global technology, it is the beginning of a polycentric system in place of an American monopoly on the cloud.