Egypt’s bid to localize electronics manufacturing starts to pay off

Al-Monitor Pro Members

Marc Español 

Journalist covering Egypt and Sudan

June 20, 2023

Egypt has not traditionally specialized in the production of electronics and has heavily relied on tech imports — but this is slowly starting to change. South Korean electronics giant Samsung announced on June 2 that it will set up a new factory for the assembly of smartphones in a Beni Suef industrial complex in Egypt where it already has another factory in which it manufactures electronic products such as cell phones, TVs and tablets. In mid-June, Chinese multinational tech company Vivo revealed to Egyptian business newspaper Al-Mal that it has also started manufacturing smartphones in a factory in the 10th of Ramadan city, near Cairo, for both the domestic and export markets. News of such expansions in the country by big industry names are becoming increasingly frequent, signaling how this nascent industry is beginning to pick up steam on the back of the government’s eager plans to localize it.