The site leveling operation of Kemet Data Center in Ain Sokhna Industrial Zone of Suez Canal Economic Zone has entered the final stage. On September 23rd, the Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology met with the Intro Holding team to officially confirm that the project has fully transitioned from the planning phase to the equipment contract execution period. The procurement door for North Africa's first 80MW Tier III intelligent computing hub has been opened to the global supply chain.

Clear implementation of investment scale and division of labor framework

The total capacity of the project is 80MW, and the latest total investment has been raised to 1.2 billion US dollars, which is 20% higher than the planned value in November 2024. The first phase investment has increased from the previously disclosed 150 million US dollars to 270 million US dollars, an increase of 80%. The project has undergone multiple rounds of planning iterations in the past two years, gradually expanding from the initial $450 million two-phase plan to a large-scale computing node for the fourth phase construction, with the goal of becoming the first data center in the Suez Canal Economic Zone to meet Tier III standards, providing computing power support for cloud services, the Internet of Things, and digital transformation scenarios.

The procurement entrance of the entire project is scattered among multiple entities, with Intro Technology as the technology development entity, Advansys responsible for hardware import and partial design, Oman Data Park responsible for operational consulting, and EPC contractor responsible for full process engineering control. At present, all project engineering designs have been completed, and equipment contracts from multiple suppliers have been officially signed. However, the specific list and package contents have not yet been made public. As of late September, the temporary construction power supply at the project site has been connected, and 72% of the relocation project for the surrounding 11kV supporting lines has been completed, clearing the early obstacles for the subsequent main construction.

New Window Opened in North African Computing Market

Egypt is simultaneously advancing its national data center and cloud computing strategy, and the existing utility access capacity of the Suez Canal Economic Zone exceeds 1500MVA, which can provide sufficient power support for the project. The local regulatory system sets licensing and registration requirements for public data centers and cloud services respectively, and the types of customers for subsequent project services will further affect the brand access list for categories such as server network security. Keywords: data center, high-tech

For overseas Chinese enterprises, the partially closed open package in the first phase and the subsequent expansion in the second to fourth phases require local operations and spare parts service markets, which together constitute long-term participation opportunities. Enterprises that lock in their technical standards in advance and enter the qualified supplier list will gain a significant first mover advantage in subsequent installment purchases. The construction fence along the canal has been erected, and Kemet Data Center is gradually transforming its $1.2 billion total investment plan into tangible equipment orders in the North African digital infrastructure market.Editor/Cheng Liting