Challenge
Information and communications technology (ICT) is increasingly crucial to economic inclusion and growth, but Africa faces a significant ICT infrastructure gap. Despite being home to 18 percent of the world’s population, Africa accounts for less than 1 percent of total available global data center capacity.
Even South Africa, which leads the continent with 100 data centers, only has the computing capacity of 200MW, about the same as Switzerland, which has a population seven times smaller.
The demand for data centers across Africa is soon expected to exceed supply by 300 percent, according to investment firm African Infrastructure Investment Managers.
In addition to supporting many of the needs of the modern economy, demand for data centers has been fueled by a growing number of high-tech startups in regions such as Kenya’s Silicon Savannah, cloud technologies, mobile money, and more recently, by AI deployment.
Solution and Impact
In 2020, DFC approved financing of up to $300 million to Africa Data Centres to support the acquisition, expansion, development, construction, and operation of data centers across Africa. The DFC financing has already supported investments in greenfield and expansion projects in South Africa and Kenya and is expected to support the development of additional data centers in the near term.
And it represents only a part of DFC’s broader goal of building trusted digital infrastructure through investments in not just data centers, but telecommunications and other infrastructure like subsea cables.
In addition to supporting development of infrastructure that is critical to economic growth, DFC financing provides an alternative to America’s strategic competitors by adhering to high standards for transparency, labor, and the environment. DFC invests in data centers that have safe, secure, and open networks employing trusted equipment, which, in turn, make the local markets more attractive destinations for businesses from around the globe.
In July 2024, Africa Data Centres opened its new facility in Cape Town. The results of its development are not limited to economic benefits. Its redundancies and guaranteed availability rely on wheeled solar power and a focus on sustainability through water recycling and efficiency in heating and cooling, in addition to robust security.
“It is evident that by supporting Africa Data Centres, we are enabling downstream economic growth in African cities through better connectivity,” Acting Consul General Stacy Barrios said at the facility’s official opening.