Egyptian property developer Talaat Moustafa Group unveiled a plan for a 1.4 trillion Egyptian pound ($27 billion) new city on the outskirts of Cairo.
Spanning over 2 million square meters, the city will involve 165 residential, business and commercial towers, according to the company's chief executive officer, Hisham Talaat Moustafa. Dubbed "The Spine," it's the latest megaproject in a country that has attracted tens of billions of dollars in Gulf investments for lavish coastal communities.
Officials didn't provide a timeline for the project, but Moustafa said the venture would create over 155,000 direct and indirect jobs and draw in tens of millions of annual visitors.
A promotional video conjured up images similar to developments in Dubai - dancing fountains in the middle of a large lake, gleaming skyscrapers and tree-lined streets geared for pedestrians.
"The Spine is the spinal chord of a modern economy now being created," Moustafa said at a press conference on Saturday that also included Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and central bank Governor Hassan Abdalla.
Talaat Moustafa has worked on megaprojects in the past. The company is a key force behind the development of the Mediterranean headland of Ras El-Hekma, a location that's a focus of part of the $35 billion invested in Egypt by the United Arab Emirates two years ago.
Egypt has seen a swathe of new infrastructure projects over the past decade, including the construction of a new administrative capital to the east of historic Cairo.
The founder of quantum computing startup Xanadu Quantum Technologies Ltd. became a billionaire in a matter of days after Nvidia Corp. threw its weight behind the emerging technology.
Christian Weedbrook's stake in Xanadu was worth about $1.5 billion as of midday Friday as the company more than tripled in value this week, according to regulatory filings and market data compiled by Bloomberg.
Toronto-based Xanadu is trying to build one of the first quantum data centers by 2030 using quantum computers that send photons, or light, through fiber-optic connections. Shares of quantum computing companies have surged since chip giant Nvidia released open-source artificial intelligence models designed to help their research on Tuesday.
Quantum computers hold the promise of being far more powerful than traditional computers because they can use the fundamental particles of the universe to pursue a large number of calculations simultaneously. Xanadu went public in March by merging with a blank-check company and its stock price had largely hovered below $10 until this week.
Xanadu's shares traded at $31.41 in New York as of 12:21 p.m., up 251% from last week's closing price.
Weedbrook declined to comment when reached by email Thursday.
Weedbrook owns 15.6% of Xanadu's shares, according to a March 26 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Other early investors, such as Ontario's pension fund for municipal government workers, Bessemer Venture Partners and Georgian Partners, also came out as big winners of the stock rally.
"Quantum stocks were oversold which formed this 'coiled spring' condition where any positive news or breakthrough could have the potential to shift sentiment," Wedbush Securities Inc. analyst Antoine Legault said by email.
Legault said that if enthusiasm over Nvidia's new AI model gives way to questions about how companies turn it into profit, some of the dramatic appreciation in stock values could be given back. "It remains to be seen whether quantum computing companies will use these tools to their benefit and if it will indeed accelerate the timeline to commercialization," Legault added.
Xanadu reported revenues of $4.6 million last year and profits aren't expected anytime soon. The company booked $55.2 million in research and development expenses in 2025.
Nvidia has become one of the world's most valuable firms because it makes the advanced computer chips on which computation-hungry AI models run.