Countries / Africa
Egypt
Egypt is licensing data centres on 15-year terms and plans a national GPU data centre, while personal data rules tighten from November 2026.
The second National AI Strategy (2025-2030) was launched in January 2025 and includes a national data centre with GPU resources. The telecoms regulator offers 15-year licences to public data centre providers, with direct submarine cable access. The Personal Data Protection Law restricts cross-border transfers and requires licences, with enforcement due from 1 November 2026. For someone seeking compute, Egypt is a connectivity-rich hub, with Africa Data Centres, Gulf Data Hub and Khazna expanding.
AI policy and activity
The National Council for AI, Quantum Computing and Emerging Technologies was restructured by Prime Ministerial Decree 207 of 2026. The 2025-2030 strategy has six pillars including AI infrastructure, a national Arabic language model and an AI law.
Power and grid
No Egypt-specific grid constraint was found in the sources read.
Data centres and compute
| Site | Where | Status | Notes and source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Egypt public data centre market Africa Data Centres, Gulf Data Hub, Khazna Data Centers | Egypt | Operating | Named as new entrants. Site-level capacity not found in the source read. Market sized at 278 million dollars in 2024 rising to 694 million by 2030, with 15 subsea cables as of mid-2025. (source) |
Rules and programmes
| Instrument | Kind | Status | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| National AI Strategy 2025-2030 | Policy | In force from 1 January 2025 | Law-firm guide. Launched January 2025; day of month not confirmed. |
| Personal Data Protection Law (Law 151 of 2020) | Law | In force from 1 November 2026 | Executive Regulations are MCIT Decree 816 of 2025. Guide says enforcement follows a one-year grace period to 1 November 2026. Cross-border transfers need country-specific licences. |
| NTRA public data centre provider licensing | Policy | In force | US Commercial Service page. 15-year licences for public data centre providers, with a parallel registration for cloud providers. |
Checked on 2 October 2026 and due for review by 1 January 2027. Many sources are trade press or law-firm summaries rather than official texts, and statuses such as reported or unconfirmed are shown as the source gives them. This is a summary, not legal advice. If something is wrong or out of date, tell us.