Power talks for a data-centre project
Egypt's Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Mahmoud Esmat, met Heka Data chairman Ahmed El-Hefny and representatives of a US data-centre consortium at the ministry's headquarters in the New Administrative Capital on 1 September, to discuss securing power for what is described as a major AI and cloud data-centre project, according to Ahram Online.
The meeting examined mechanisms for supplying the project with secure, stable and sustainable electricity, including through renewable and clean energy sources, according to Ahram Online. Officials from Egypt's electricity and communications sectors also attended, and Esmat said Egypt has an energy infrastructure capable of meeting the investment requirements of technology and data centre industries.
The project forms part of Egypt's digital transformation and localisation strategy, drawing on the country's geographic position and fibre-optic networks to attract foreign investment in cloud computing and artificial intelligence, according to the ministry statement reported by Ahram Online. Esmat also described data centres as a strategic sector linked to the rapid expansion of cloud computing, artificial intelligence applications and digital services.
Egypt's pitch, in ministry statements reported by Ahram Online, centres on its power infrastructure and location as reasons to host large-scale cloud and AI infrastructure. The meeting with Heka Data and the US consortium took place on 1 September, the same week reports emerged of Huawei's separate approach to Egyptian officials over AI chip supply — putting Cairo in the middle of a wider contest between Chinese and American suppliers over who builds the country's AI infrastructure.
A rival Chinese bid worth 2,008 AI chips
Separately, Huawei has bid to supply Egypt with 2,008 AI chips for a competing data-centre project, according to waya.media, which cited a review of bid documents. The proposal pairs Huawei with Chinese AI company iFlytek; both firms have been on the US Commerce Department's Entity List since 2019.
The bid comprises 1,408 Ascend 950-series chips for a cloud platform intended to train AI models, plus a further 600 chips — either Ascend 950 or 910B models — for inference clusters, on a proposed 12-month completion timeline, according to waya.media.
The chip breakdown comes from a review of bid documents cited by waya.media, which in turn cited Bloomberg reporting.
Washington approaches Nvidia, AMD and Microsoft
In response, the US State Department has approached Nvidia, AMD and Microsoft about forming a competing American consortium, according to waya.media. As of publication, neither Huawei nor Egyptian authorities had issued an official statement on the Huawei bid.
The scale under discussion is significant on both sides. Huawei's proposed 2,008 chips would supply both training and inference capacity for a single facility, while Washington's outreach spans three major US technology companies. Whichever supplier or consortium is ultimately selected would shape the technical foundation of Egypt's AI compute capacity for years, given the scale of the chip and power commitments involved.
The timing underscores a broader dynamic: a domestic Egyptian firm's power talks with a US consortium landed in the same week a competing Chinese chip bid became public, making Cairo a visible test case for how governments navigate competing AI-hardware ecosystems without any public confirmation yet of which side, or whether both, Egypt will ultimately choose.
What is confirmed, and what is not
Two separate threads of reporting describe overlapping ambitions for Egyptian AI infrastructure, but several details remain unverified:
- Confirmed: Esmat met Heka Data's El-Hefny and a US consortium at the ministry's New Capital headquarters on 1 September, Ahram Online reported.
- Confirmed: Huawei's bid figures — 1,408 Ascend 950 chips plus 600 more for inference — come from a document review reported by waya.media, which cited Bloomberg.
- Unconfirmed: whether the Huawei chip bid and the Heka Data/US consortium talks concern the same data-centre project or two separate facilities.
- Unconfirmed: any official comment from Huawei, iFlytek or Egyptian authorities on the chip bid.
- Unconfirmed: which companies, if any, will formally join a US consortium beyond the State Department's outreach to Nvidia, AMD and Microsoft.
- Unconfirmed: a public cost estimate or completion date for the Heka Data-led project, beyond the ministry's description of talks on power supply.
Ahram Online's report did not name the specific companies within the US consortium that met Esmat, distinct from the Nvidia, AMD and Microsoft names later linked to Washington's separate outreach on the Huawei bid.
Why the outcome matters for Egypt's AI strategy
Egypt's second national AI strategy aims for AI to contribute 7.7% of GDP by 2030, according to waya.media. Access to AI compute infrastructure factors into that target, whether the underlying hardware and financing come from Chinese or American suppliers.
Neither side has closed a deal. Cairo is simultaneously weighing a Chinese chip proposal and fielding a nascent US consortium effort in the same week it is negotiating the electricity supply a data centre of this scale would need — leaving open which combination of technology, financing and power infrastructure Egypt ultimately builds on.
For now, Cairo has confirmed talks on the power side of one project and stayed silent on the chip side of the other, leaving the two threads officially unconnected even as they compete for the same underlying ambition: hosting large-scale AI compute in Egypt.
Both the Heka Data-led talks and the Huawei chip bid remain at the discussion stage — Ahram Online's account describes a meeting about power-supply mechanisms, not a signed agreement, while waya.media's account describes a bid under review, not an award. Egypt's final choice of technology partner, and the timeline for construction, have not been announced, leaving the outcome — and with it a marker of where Egypt positions itself between competing AI-hardware suppliers — still to be decided.
