As the China-US AI race reaches Cairo, Egypt faces a strategic decision

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to Egypt, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations, marked his first trip to the Middle East in four years and the first to Egypt in a decade.The trip caused debate among geopolitical observers over Egypt’s diplomatic balancing act between China, one of its largest economic partners, and the United States, a major defence and strategic partner.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Can Kenya’s AI ambitions coexist with Naivasha’s water needs?list 2 of 3What’s behind the US move to hit Egyptian bank with Iran sanctions?list 3 of 3OpenAI says it detected malign activity months before Hugging Face attackend of listBut Egypt also finds itself in another tightrope walk between the two superpowers: it is emerging as a potential battleground in the US-China artificial intelligence race.Xi’s visit came at a time when Chinese tech giant Huawei has submitted a tender to build Egypt’s AI data centres. The US, meanwhile, is reportedly pulling together an offer to counter Huawei’s bid. Whoever wins the contract to build the data centres will also gain an opportunity to strengthen their political an...