Chinese tech giants push local laptop assembly to 2027

Chinese tech brands hitting pause on locally assembled laptops

Honor, Realme, Vivo, and Oppo have pushed back plans to start assembling laptops and tablets in Egypt by a year to 2027 instead of the original 2026 target, the Arabic press reports, citing industry sources. The four Chinese players cited rising production costs of 12-15% tied to a weakening EGP, factory wage hikes of over 5%, higher transportation costs, and weak demand, the sources said.

And then there’s the RAMapocalypse: The change of target, if confirmed, comes at the same time as the price of RAM — a key component in all computing devices — heads past the stratosphere. The price of memory used in laptops, tablets, and smartphones has risen as much as 250% y-o-y thanks to demand from datacenter buildouts globally. Demand is so high that some devicemakers simply cannot get their hands on the chips.

The hesitation doesn’t extend to smartphones. A combined customs and tax charge of 38.5% on phones brought into the country by travelers and levied on commercial imports ensures that locally assembled devices stay price-competitive.

Strike while the oil is hot

Khalda Petroleum is looking to deploy as much as USD 1.0 bn on investment and operations here in FY 2026-2027, according to an Oil Ministry statement. Khalda is a joint venture between US oil producer Apache and the state’s Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.

The ramp-up follows a strong first half of the year: Khalda made 15 oil discoveries in the first half of the fiscal year, adding roughly 15 mn barrels of oil equivalent to its reserves. The company hit 100% of its oil-equivalent production target and exceeded its natural gas target by 7%, after drilling 26 development wells and carrying out 75 recompletion operations.

Going green in Tokyo

Egypt is preparing to issue USD 500 mn in Samurai bonds in the Japanese market this month — or by early June at the latest — as part of its strategy to diversify funding sources and reduce borrowing costs, a government official told the Arabic press. The official said Japanese banks have already been mandated, with procedures kicking off after the IMF Spring Meetings in Washington in April. This will mark Egypt’s third Samurai issuance — and its first under a sustainable finance framework — following USD 500 mn raised in March 2022 and another USD 500 mn in November 2023.

Why it matters: The issuance is part of a broader USD 4 bn international debt program running through FY 2025/2026, which also includes Panda bonds, green bonds, and Eurobonds. The African Development Bank is providing a USD 400 mn partial credit guarantee — covering 80% of the issuance — to help Egypt secure longer tenors and lower borrowing costs by reducing investor risk. Proceeds are expected to be directed toward green and sustainable projects.

EgyptAir’s first 737 Max lands in Cairo

EgyptAir has received its first Boeing 737-8 Max, kicking off an 18-aircraft strategic lease agreement from SMBC Aviation Capital, according to a statement from the flag carrier. EgyptAir says the new jets will cut fuel use and emissions by 20% compared to their predecessors and will serve short- and medium-haul routes including Paris, Brussels, Istanbul, and Vienna.

It looks like the national flag carrier is also about to get a new Airbus A350-900, which AeroSignals said yesterday afternoon was on its way from Tolous-Blagnac to Cairo. The account correctly noted two days ago that the 737-8 Max was on its way to Cairo.

The delivery is part of EgyptAir’s broader fleet modernization push. The carrier said in February it plans to add 12 aircraft this year and scale up to 34 new planes from the Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 737-8 Max families by 2031.

New wind energy and battery storage projects coming to national grid

Expanding our renewables capacity: We’re getting 4.8 GW of new wind energy capacity spread across the Gulf of Suez, Ras Shukeir, Zafarana, and Galala Mountain, as well as 4 GWh of battery energy storage in South Cairo, Damanhour, and Wadi El Natroun over the next two years. The developers behind the projects, which will be financed by the Tahya Misr Fund, have not been revealed.