China's Xi Jinping to visit Egypt as Huawei bids for AI data centers, US assembles rival consortium

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to visit Egypt for the first time in a decade, highlighting rapidly expanding military and economic ties. The visit coincides with a bid by Huawei and iFlytek to supply over 2,000 advanced Ascend AI chips for Egyptian government data centers. To counter this, the US State Department is attempting to assemble a rival consortium of Nvidia, AMD, and Microsoft, leveraging existing 2023 export licensing rules to challenge China's growing technological influence in the region.

Huawei Egypt AI chip bid

• ▪Huawei has submitted a bid to build AI data centers for the Egyptian government, offering to export 1,408 of its high-end Ascend 950-series chips for an AI training cloud.
• ▪The joint presentation by Huawei and iFlytek features basic video applications carrying the insignia of China's Ministry of Public Security.
• ▪Huawei's bid in Egypt is a joint partnership with iFlytek, a Chinese speech and surveillance company, and includes vehicle and individual recognition run against a national population database.
• ▪Huawei's proposal to Egypt includes an additional 600 chips, either the Ascend 950 or the older 910B model, to run two inference clusters under a 12-month build schedule.

US consortium counter-offer

• ▪The US State Department declined to state whether federal funding is available to support the proposed American technology consortium in Egypt.
• ▪Upon learning of Huawei's bid, the US State Department contacted Nvidia, AMD, and Microsoft about assembling a rival consortium to submit a counter-offer to Egypt.

Xi Jinping Egypt visit

• ▪President Xi Jinping's trip to Egypt is at the invitation of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and follows a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
• ▪Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Egypt from August 30 to September 3, 2026, marking his first trip to the country in a decade.

China-Egypt bilateral ties

• ▪Egypt and China launched a joint air exercise named Eagles of Civilization 2026 on August 22, 2026, highlighting their growing military cooperation.
• ▪Trade between China and Egypt reached $20.8 billion last year, heavily tilted in Beijing's favor with Chinese exports accounting for nearly $19.9 billion of the total.
• ▪The China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone in Ain Sokhna has attracted more than 200 companies, most of which are Chinese-funded.

US-China AI export controls

• ▪The United States has required export licenses for AI chip shipments to Egypt since 2023, giving Washington regulatory leverage over Cairo's AI development.
• ▪The Trump administration scrapped a Biden-era plan to expand AI export controls globally, aiming to prevent handing international markets over to Huawei.

Malaysia Huawei precedent

• ▪Malaysia announced a national AI system using Huawei chips last year, but distanced itself from the project after the White House raised export control concerns.
• ▪Malaysian customs seized a $13 million chip shipment bound for re-export in June 2026, following the country's commitment to comply with export control laws.