Egypt targets up to $1B in Egypt data center investment as Vodafone Business, Elsewedy and Cassava build local and sovereign AI infrastructure.
On September 7, Vodafone Business announced two partnerships with Elsewedy Electric and Cassava Technologies that will establish a large-scale data center and Egypt’s first sovereign AI data center.
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The agreements were signed at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo in the presence of Raafat Hindi, Egypt’s minister of communications and information technology, and senior executives from the three companies.
Developing New Egypt Data Center Infrastructure
The first partnership will establish Africa Data Centers Egypt (ADC Egypt), which is planned to become Egypt’s largest data center. The facility will target up to 200 MW of capacity, with the first 20 MW expected to be developed within three years.
The initial phase represents an expected investment of about $200 million. Total investment could reach $1 billion as the facility scales to its full 200 MW capacity.
The project is also expected to create about 200 direct jobs and 2,000 indirect jobs.
Sovereign AI and GPU Capabilities
The second partnership brings Vodafone Business and Cassava Technologies together to develop Egypt’s first sovereign AI data center. The facility will use NVIDIA computing technology and provide local GPU-as-a-Service, giving organizations access to high-performance computing for AI workloads while keeping data and processing within Egypt.
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For businesses handling sensitive information, where data is stored and processed can affect security, compliance and operational requirements.
A sovereign AI infrastructure model gives Egyptian enterprises and government institutions a local environment for running demanding AI workloads. GPU-as-a-Service could also lower the barrier for organizations that need access to high-performance computing but do not want to build their own GPU infrastructure.
Strategic Growth and Regional Impact
The move comes as Egypt seeks to expand its data center industry and strengthen its position as a regional hub for cloud computing, AI and digital services.
The government has said it wants to attract international investment and technology while increasing the country's capacity to host and process data locally.
The partnerships also reflect Vodafone Business's expanding role in Egypt's technology infrastructure. Vodafone Egypt said it has invested more than EGP125 billion in the country over 28 years and plans to invest more than EGP20 billion during fiscal year 2026/27.
For Cassava Technologies, the partnership adds Egypt to its broader African AI infrastructure strategy. The company said its work with Vodafone will make advanced computing and GPU-as-a-Service available locally while supporting data sovereignty.
Together, the projects give Egypt more capacity to host and process data domestically while building infrastructure for increasingly compute-intensive AI workloads. Egypt's geographic position, submarine cable connections and large domestic market give it potential to serve both Egyptian users and regional customers.
Engagement
