Ethiopia's $12.5 billion airport has become the latest investment battleground between the U.S. and China in Africa

The race for influence over Africa's next generation of mega infrastructure projects has intensified, with the United States seeking a role for its companies in Ethiopia's ambitious $12.5 billion Bishoftu International Airport as it challenges China's growing foothold in one of the continent's most strategic aviation developments.

Chinese state-owned firms are already among the contenders for major construction contracts on the four-runway airport, adding to Beijing's long-standing dominance in Ethiopia's infrastructure sector through investments in railways, industrial parks and transport networks.

Washington is now pushing to ensure American companies also secure a place in a project expected to reshape African aviation.

Reuters reported that U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for the Middle East and Africa, Mark Mitchell, said at the Africa Logistics and Communications Symposium in Addis Ababa that Washington was "closely engaged in pushing to secure U.S. participation" in the airport project.

Mitchell said he had held discussions with Ethiopian Airlines officials but did not specify the role American companies would play.