Chinese investments galore: The three-day Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, which wrapped on Friday in Beijing, saw the government sign a raft of contracts and MoUs with Chinese companies totaling over USD 1.1 bn. The agreements include a host of new industrial facilities in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) and investments in the telecommunications sector aimed at building new factories alongside data, training, and R&D centers.

The state is also readying up fresh pieces of land to accommodate Chinese investor appetite in the country: The government will allocate more land to Teda Investment Holding — the company behind the China-Egypt TEDA trade zone — in the Suez Canal area. It has also offered to grant the company land on the Mediterranean coast in the New Alamein City to help it expand and attract new manufacturers.

REMEMBER- Chinese investors have been loving Egypt as of late: We took a deep dive into growing Chinese industrial investments in an Inside Industry last month, highlighting recent projects, future plans, and government efforts to attract more Chinese capital across various sectors.

MANUFACTURING-

A handful of newly announced Chinese factory projects are in the works: Six Chinese companies have inkedland usufruct agreements with the China-Egypt TEDA trade zone in Ain Sokhna to set up factories there:

#1- A USD 500 mn chlor-alkali production facility: Chemicals manufacturer Befar Group will set up a USD 500 mn chlor-alkali production facility. Set to be the first green chemical facility in the country and globally, the facility in its first phase will harness wind and solar energy, electricity, and natural gas to generate steam as its energy source, according to SCZone head Walid Gamal El Din.

#2- A USD 300 mn glass production factory: Glass manufacturer China Glass Holding will set up a USD 300 mn glass factory. The factory will produce float glass and super-white galvanized glass, each with a daily production of 800 tons. The project will target the local market as well as exports to North Africa, the Middle East and Europe, with an export capacity of up to 240k tons annually, and projected export revenues of up to USD 120 mn annually.

#3- A USD 110 mn bromine extraction complex: Chemical producer Shandong TianyiChemical inked a framework agreement to set up a USD 110 mn industrial complex for extracting bromine using seawater desalination byproducts that are typically discarded into the sea.

#4- A USD 100 mn solar panel factory: Elite Solar will establish a USD 100 mn factory to annually produce N-type solar cells with a collective capacity of 2 GW. The project aims to create 600 jobs whilst bridging the gap in the nascent photovoltaic energy industry and attracting related industrial clusters.

#5- A USD 50 mn home appliance supply chain hub: Kaks Investment will set up a comprehensive USD 50 mn support zone for the home appliances supply chain. The zone will encompass component manufacturing, customs storage services, spare part distribution, assembly operations, sheet metal processing centers, injection molding, and foam production. It aims to deepen the local production of components for the home appliances industry.

#6- A USD 7.5 mn starch production facility: Dahui Glucose and local producer Tiba Starch is set to establish a USD 7.5 mn modified starch factory. The project aims to meet demand for modified starch in Egypt, the Middle East, and East Africa. It will produce 20k tons annually in its first phase before ramping up annual production to 50k tons.

AND- GWM looks serious about setting up an auto factory here: Automobile manufacturer Great Wall Motors (GWM) made a request to grab a 1 mn sqm plot of land for an auto factory it is thinking about setting up, which we first heard about last week. The facility would produce vehicles and spare parts for both the local market and export to neighboring countries and would be implemented in two phases, each with an annual production capacity of 60k vehicles. Should it make a formal decision to set up shop in the country, the government would allocate the required land and issue a golden license to expedite the project, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said.

Madbouly also urged GAC Motor, Henan Investment to invest in our auto industry: Prime Minister offered to give automobile manufacturer GAC Motor special incentives and a golden license to expand production to Egypt. He also discussed potential investments with Henan Investment Group — the investment arm of China’s Henan province — particularly in renewable energy and electric car industries.

PLUS- China Energy to speed up work on new facilities: China Energy pledged to expedite the establishment of factories and production centers for renewable energy technologies and to prioritize new energy projects, including green hydrogen and green ammonia. The company also announced plans to expand its operations in Egypt, including moving its North African headquarters here. China Energy currently runs 12 projects in the country with a combined value of USD 2 bn.

Remember: The company last October inked an MoU with the Electricity Ministry to start working on feasibility studies for a 2-GW pumped hydroelectric energy storage and a framework agreement with the SCZone to set up a USD 6.75 bn green hydrogen plant that could produce some 1.2 mn tons of green ammonia and 210k tons of green hydrogen each year.

COMMUNICATIONS-

Our communications industry in particular is attracting the attention of Chinese investors: The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and China inked five major MoUs with Chinese tech companies to boost cooperation in communications and information technology.

#1- FiberHome to set up shop in Om El Donia: Wuhan FiberHome International Technologies inked an MoU to set up a fiber optic cables factory that will produce 1 mn core kilometers of fiber, 500k communication terminal devices, and 3k base station antennas annually. These products will serve both the local market and be exported to the Middle East and North Africa. The MoU will also see it set up an R&D center for optical networks and green transformation technology, in addition to a training center with the ICT Ministry.

#2- Hengtong Group to build second factory in Egypt: Power and fiber optic cable manufacturer Hengtong Group inked an MoU to launch a USD 15 mn second factory in the SCZone. The company will produce fiber optic cables and FTTX network accessories, in addition to operating and maintaining submarine fiber optic cables. The factory is slated to produce 3 mn kms of fiber optic cables annually and export 40% of its production to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Hengtong will also establish a training academy for fiber optic communications technologies in partnership with the National Telecommunications Institute, launch a joint training program with Telecom Egypt, and work with Telecom Egypt to provide at least 2 mn housing units with passive access to fiber optic networks.

#3- ZTE to roll out Egypt-made products: Telecommunications equipment manufacturer ZTE inked an MoU that will see it locally produce a number of products, including fixed network terminals and optical network distribution products. It will also cooperate with ITIDA in establishing two training labs to provide professional training for up to 1.2k participants over three years.

#4- Tsinghua Unigroup to set up USD 300 mn technology investment fund: State-owned technology and semiconductor manufacturer Tsinghua Unigroup inked an MoU to set up a technology investment fund with an initial capital of around USD 300 mn, of which the company and its subsidiaries will contribute 60-70%. The agreement will also see the company setting up a data center, rolling out cloud services, studying the establishment of an R&D center for electronic chip design, and working on AI applications with a specific focus on developing a large language model for the Arabic language.

#5- Huawei Egypt to expand operations: Huawei Egypt will launch the Huawei Egypt Development Center this year under a new MoU. The center will focus on R&D in local industry solutions, developer training and certification, and building a cloud computing ecosystem. Huawei’s plans include supporting startups and SMEs with cloud services and resources, training 1.5k developers in 2025, and certifying 500 developers in collaboration with the ICT Ministry.

PLUS- CSCEC eyes airport development gigs: China State Construction EngineeringCorporation (CSCEC) expressed interest in collaborating with the government on airport development efforts and is exploring partnerships with international companies to operate new airports or terminals that will be built.

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