At the UAE-Greece Strategic Forum in Athens on 23 October 2026, Abu Dhabi-based G42 and five of its portfolio companies signed preliminary agreements with the Greek government, ministries and private sector covering AI infrastructure, government services, smart cities and life sciences. The deals are part of a wider 18-agreement package worth €12.75 billion ($14.3 billion).
What happened
The forum took place during the official visit to Athens by Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. He was received the day before, on 22 October, by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. On the UAE side, the Ministry of Foreign Trade coordinated the agreements; on the Greek side, line ministries and private groups.
G42 is the UAE’s export arm for its national AI agenda: the holding runs data centres, cloud and applied AI across the US, Europe and the region, and this package extends that strategy into the EU via Greece. Mansoor Al Mansoori, CEO of G42 International, said the signed documents “lay the groundwork for a systemic partnership on AI infrastructure and services” between Abu Dhabi and Athens.
What was signed
G42 and five subsidiaries signed four blocks of agreements:
- Khazna Data Centres and Core42 – with Greece’s Copelouzos Group: exploring the build-out of an AI factory in Greece. Khazna would handle the physical data-centre infrastructure; Core42 would supply cloud and AI compute to banks, telecoms, shipping and the public sector. The National reports a starting capacity of 24 MW, expandable to 80 MW; build timeline and cost split were not disclosed.
- Presight – with Greece’s Ministry of Digital Governance: analytics for urban mobility, waste management and water-network monitoring. Presight CEO Thomas Pramotedham said the firm will bring to Greece the large government-data expertise it built in the UAE.
- Inception42 – with Greece’s Ministry of Digital Governance and AI: deployment of agentic AI in government and education. Use cases include cabinet-session support, monitoring of government priorities, training civil servants to work with AI agents, AI tutors and learning platforms.
- M42 – with Athens LifeTech Park (ALTP): a life-sciences partnership. The focus is biomarker research (oncology, rare genetic diseases, neuroscience), genome sequencing, population genomics and biobank connectivity. M42 also opens an ALTP incubator for UAE-based start-ups and gives Greek companies access to its UAE network.
Context and the numbers
The €12.75 billion figure covers all 18 agreements signed at the UAE-Greece Strategic Forum, not G42’s projects alone; individual G42 deal values were not disclosed. Mitsotakis said Greece has already exceeded the €4 billion UAE direct-investment target set in the 2022 cooperation agreement, and the two sides also flagged a further €15 billion of planned UAE investment into the Greek economy.
This fits a broader pattern: the UAE is reshaping its 2026 economy around deep diversification, and AI exports are now one of the main pillars. The Greek package is G42’s first large footprint in Southern Europe and, in effect, its entry point into the EU via a NATO member and eurozone country.
What it means for UAE-based business
For companies and investors already operating from the UAE or evaluating a set-up, three signals stand out:
- UAE AI infrastructure is now plugging into the EU. If the Greek AI factory proceeds, it links Core42/Khazna capacity to the European compute market – which eases hybrid “data in the EU, models in the UAE” contracts for firms in finance, logistics and telecom.
- A European corridor opens for UAE IT and data businesses. It complements the trade and investment grid built via UAE CEPA agreements, through which the Emirates systematically unlock access to key markets.
- Life sciences and smart city are the hot demand zones. M42, Presight and Inception42 are actively hiring, forming partnerships and looking for data providers and research teams – relevant to UAE start-ups and to expats already working in these sectors.
What comes next
The documents are framework-level (MoUs and preliminary agreements). Commercial terms, the AI factory’s build schedule, final capacity and financing structure are to be negotiated in the next phase. G42 and the Greek government have also announced joint working groups across each of the four tracks.
