G42 Introduces Digital Embassies and Greenshield to Make AI Sovereignty Portable
New model enables governments to deploy AI immediately while retaining full legal authority, control, and resilience across global infrastructure
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- G42 today announced the launch of its Digital Embassies framework and Greenshield, a new sovereign operating model that enables nations to deploy artificial intelligence securely and at scale while maintaining full legal authority and control over their data, systems, and policies regardless of where infrastructure is located.
As governments accelerate AI adoption across public services, national security, healthcare, energy, and industry, many face a growing gap between ambition and infrastructure readiness. Domestic sovereign cloud and data center buildouts can take years, while legal, regulatory, and security obligations apply from day one.
Digital Embassies and Greenshield are designed to close that gap.
At its core, Digital Embassies and Greenshield treat sovereignty like a flag that travels with a workload, much like a diplomatic mission carries legal authority beyond borders. This concept makes jurisdiction portable and enforceable across agreed Digital Embassy environments, rather than being constrained by physical location. This allows governments to deploy AI now, without locking themselves into premature or inflexible infrastructure decisions.
"Our vision is that every government, regardless of size or geography, can operationalize its digital and AI strategy with full sovereign control over its data, systems, and policies, from day one," said H.E. Omran Sharaf, Assistant Foreign Minister for Advanced Science and Technology. "Digital Embassies and Greenshield define a new era of governance where law and infrastructure are not in tension, but in alignment, enabling trusted AI at scale, even when infrastructure is hosted across borders."
"Governments are clear on their sovereignty responsibilities, but they need practical ways to deploy AI today," said Ali Al Amine, Chief Commercial Officer of G42 International. "Digital Embassies and Greenshield provide that path. They allow nations to enforce their laws and policies from day one, while preserving flexibility over how and where infrastructure evolves over time."
From Policy to Execution
The Digital Embassies framework establishes government-to-government legal constructs that define jurisdiction, authority, and sovereign rights upfront. These frameworks ensure that national laws govern data and systems, even when infrastructure is hosted or operated beyond a country's physical borders.
Greenshield is the operational layer implemented by Core42, G42's digital infrastructure arm, that translates sovereign policy into execution. It applies consistent sovereign controls across environments, governing identity and access, data handling, security, compliance, auditability, and continuity.
With Greenshield, sovereignty remains intact even as workloads move across different cloud and infrastructure configurations, ensuring control is preserved as systems scale and evolve.
"Greenshield is implemented through Core42's heterogeneous AI Cloud, a mesh of sovereign compute and cloud environments already deployed across multiple geographies, including sovereign AI clusters in North America, Europe and the UAE," said Talal Al Kaissi, Interim CEO of Core42 and Group Chief Global Affairs Officer at G42. "When coupled with the government-to-government agreements, Greenshield introduces technical and policy controls that enable governments to run accelerated AI workloads with sovereign controls regardless of where the infrastructure is located."
The implementation of the framework is supported by G42's strategic partnership with Microsoft, leveraging global cloud platforms and services where appropriate. It also complements ongoing major infrastructure initiatives such as the UAE's 5 GW AI campus, whose strategic design positions it to serve roughly half the world's population within a 3,200 km radius with sub-60 ms latency, a critical sovereign AI backbone that can work in tandem with Digital Embassies and Greenshield to deliver resilient, high-performance services across regions.
A Shift in How Sovereignty Is Delivered
Historically, digital sovereignty depended on physical location. Data was considered sovereign because it was stored locally, and control required local infrastructure. Digital Embassies introduce a shift: sovereignty is treated as a legal and operational status that can be enforced consistently, even as infrastructure becomes more distributed.
This approach reduces the need for heavy upfront investment, accelerates national AI strategies, and provides a resilient path for countries seeking strong sovereign protections without waiting years for infrastructure buildouts to complete.
As discussions with partner countries advance at the World Economic Forum in Davos and beyond, Digital Embassies and Greenshield, grounded in G42's Intelligence Grid vision, are emerging as the de-facto model for sovereign AI deployment globally—ensuring that intelligence is powerful, secure, and equitably accessible wherever nations choose to build, compete, and collaborate.
About G42
G42 is a technology holding group and a global leader in artificial intelligence, delivering impactful solutions across sectors including government, healthcare, energy, finance, and space. Headquartered in Abu Dhabi and operating worldwide, G42 is building the Intelligence Grid to deliver intelligence on demand, securely and at scale.
For more information, visit www.g42.ai
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SOURCE G42
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