There are lessons for Egyptian policymakers in how China built “iPhone City.” Unless you’re an iSheep, you’ve probably never heard of Zhengzhou, home to a sprawling plant that can produce about 500k iPhones a day — or about half of Apple’s total iPhone production capacity. And it’s all because the local government stepped up to lure Apple to this impoverished region of China. You want to talk about investment incentives? “The local government has proved instrumental, doling out more than USD 1.5 bn to Foxconn to build large sections of the factory and nearby employee housing. It paved roads and built power plants. It helps cover continuing energy and transportation costs for the operation. It recruits workers for the assembly line. It pays bonuses to the factory for meeting export targets.”

Even if you could care less about iPhones the story is worth reading for the list of investment incentives in a chart about half way through. Read “How China Built ‘iPhone City’ With Bns in Perks for Apple’s Partner.”