Egypt’s information technology minister has met with a group of US data developers and a delegation led by the newly launched firm Heca Data to discuss plans to establish an integrated zone for hyperscale facilities and AI in the country.
During the meeting with government officials on September 3, Raafat Hindi said Egypt wants to expand international partnerships with data center and digital infrastructure companies to strengthen its position as a regional hub for the industry.
Hindi said the rapid development of AI technologies was creating growing demands for digital infrastructure in Egypt, especially advanced data centers, and welcomed “targeted investments” to support these developments.
“Egypt is working to develop an integrated ecosystem capable of accommodating this growth and providing an environment conducive to expanding advanced digital services, thereby strengthening its capacity to host and process data and serve companies and institutions in Egypt and the region,” he said.
The State Information Service said that talks covered cooperation opportunities for Heca Data’s project and capitalizing on Egypt’s strategic location, fiber-optic networks and submarine cables, and its growing pool of technology professionals.
It said that the delegation “voiced interest” in strengthening cooperation with the Egyptian government and moving ahead with the studies and processes required to establish the project.
Cairo-based Heca Data was launched this year and recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company to study power requirements for a hyperscale data center project.
In September, Heca Data’s CEO, Ahmed El Hefny, officially announced the company on a social media post, “after months of working quietly behind the scenes in stealth mode.”
“The journey is still long, but the goal is clear: turn Egypt into a global hub for digital infrastructure,” El Hefny said.
Egypt is pursuing an ambitious national data center strategy to establish itself as a major regional digital hub. The strategy is also linked to Egypt’s Digital Vision plan to modernize the country through digital transformation and skills.
In June, the government approved a $400 million data center license to the new digital arm of construction group Hassan Allam to operate data centers and provide cloud computing services.
Learn more about the data center market in Saudi Arabia and meet with other executives and experts in the region at the DCN Riyadh event next year.
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