Investment Minister Mohamed Farid Saleh met representatives of the Renergy Group alliance to discuss the proposals, which include a hydrogen production facility capable of generating up to 400,000 tonnes annually and a data centre powered by renewable energy, according to the ministry.
The projects would be located in El-Tor in South Sinai, covering about 127 square kilometres along a four-kilometre stretch of the Red Sea coast. The hydrogen output would be fully exported to Europe, with an initial phase targeting 160,000 tonnes per year before scaling up to full capacity.
Alongside the energy project, the alliance has proposed a hyperscale data centre with investments of about $1 billion. The facility would initially cover 10,000 square metres, with plans to expand to as much as 500,000 square metres, positioning it among the largest in the region. It would rely on renewable energy from the hydrogen project and use seawater cooling systems.
The alliance said technical studies carried out over two years for five million euros found the site suitable, including for water storage systems required for hydrogen production. It added that preliminary interest has emerged from Japanese investors to help finance the data centre.
Farid said the government is seeking detailed proposals covering feasibility, financing, and technical specifications, and indicated that authorities would support projects combining clean energy and advanced technology. He also said coordination would be required with ministries overseeing electricity, communications, and Sinai development.
The talks come as Egypt seeks to position itself as a regional hub for both green energy exports and data infrastructure, leveraging its location between Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Cairo has in recent years pushed to expand its role in global data transit, with the country carrying the vast majority of traffic between Europe and Asia through submarine cables running along the Suez Canal corridor. Authorities have also invested in upgrading cable landing stations and expanding fibre-optic networks nationwide.
State-owned Telecom Egypt remains central to the country’s connectivity infrastructure, operating carrier-neutral data centres, while private-sector participation has increased.
The initiatives form part of a broader government strategy, Digital Egypt, to localize data storage, attract global cloud providers, and develop data-driven sectors such as artificial intelligence and financial technology.
The information and communications technology (ICT) sector currently contributes around 5–6 percent to Egypt’s gross domestic product.
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