• Home
• Technology

The Egyptian government plans to allocate up to $860 million annually from the state budget, starting from the current fiscal year 2026-2027 through the end of 2030, to expand data centers and cloud computing, according to an official document from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology seen by Asharq Bloomberg.

The document detailed that these investments will be directed toward establishing data centers and computing infrastructure, enhancing data security and privacy, and expanding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) across several government-owned companies. The government targets investing between 0.10% and 0.15% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to scale up data centers, computing infrastructure, and AI applications.

Egypt as a Regional Hub for Data Traffic

Global demand for data centers is experiencing rapid growth, driven by the massive expansion of AI applications, cloud computing, and digital services, coupled with the continuous surge in data volumes generated by businesses and individuals. Furthermore, generative AI applications require intensive computing capabilities and thousands of specialized processors, driving the need for larger, more energy-intensive facilities compared to traditional data centers.

Egypt currently ranks fifth in the Arab world in terms of operational data centers, with 13 facilities, according to data from the Data Center Map platform. Saudi Arabia leads the region with 60 data centers, followed by the UAE with 57, Oman with 15, and Morocco with 14. Qatar ranks sixth with 11 centers.

Read also: U.S.-based "Incom" Plans to Establish a $300 Million Data Center in Egypt

The global data center market is projected to reach $364.62 billion by 2034, up from $125.35 billion in 2024, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.39%. According to data from the Egyptian Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), this trajectory bolsters Egypt's prospects of attracting new investments to the sector. Additionally, domestic demand for cloud services rose by 8.2% in 2022, with the Egyptian data center market expected to reach an estimated $356 million by the end of 2025.