Africa’s data centre capacity tops 500MW, 890MW underway

Africa’s operational data centre capacity has exceeded 500 megawatts (MW), with an additional 890MW under development, underscoring accelerating investment in the continent’s digital infrastructure as demand for cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), data storage and digital transformation continues to expand.

According to a report by Fortren & Company, the rapid growth reflects increasing adoption of cloud services and advanced computing technologies across African economies, positioning data centres as critical infrastructure supporting long-term digital development.

While South Africa currently accounts for more than 60 per cent of Africa’s operational data centre capacity, investment is increasingly spreading across Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Ghana, Ethiopia and Morocco, broadening the continent’s digital infrastructure footprint.

The report noted that Africa’s digital economy has attracted substantial investment over the past decade, driven by the growing need for hyperscale data centres capable of supporting significantly larger computing workloads than conventional enterprise facilities.

It stated that investors increasingly regard data centres as strategic infrastructure assets because of their resilient demand, long-term contracted revenues and central role in powering digital economies.

“As of today, Africa boasts over 500MW worth of operational data centre capacity. As expected, South Africa dominates the region by a considerable margin of over 60 per cent market share.

“While this is the case, emerging markets like Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt and Morocco, which are East, West and North Africa’s regional gateways, are gradually diversifying the continent’s digital infrastructure,” the report stated.

According to the report, about 890MW of additional capacity is currently in the development pipeline, including Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s project in Kenya, Khazna Data Centre’s investment in Egypt and Airtel’s planned data centre in Nigeria.

It explained that megawatt capacity has become the industry’s preferred benchmark because it directly measures a facility’s computing capability and long-term revenue generation potential.

South Africa dominates the list of Africa’s largest operational facilities, accounting for four of the continent’s seven biggest data centres, while Nigeria, Ghana and Egypt each host one major facility.

The Teraco Isando Campus in Johannesburg ranks as Africa’s largest operational data centre with 70MW of Information Technology (IT) capacity, representing the power available to support servers, storage systems, networking infrastructure and other computing equipment.

Nigeria’s 21st Century Technologies Ikeja Campus ranks fourth on the continent with 36MW of IT capacity.

Ghana’s Agility Logistics Park Data Centre Campus currently provides 30MW of committed IT capacity, with room for expansion to 150MW.

Egypt’s East Cairo Logistics Park Data Centre Campus operates with 25MW of IT capacity and has been designed to scale up to 45MW, while Africa Data Centres’ JHB1 Midrand facility in South Africa completes the top seven with 20MW of IT capacity.

The report noted that the ranking highlights South Africa’s established leadership while demonstrating that significant investments are increasingly flowing into other African markets as regional digital economies expand.

The findings complement projections contained in the Lagos Real Estate Development Pipeline Report 2025/2026 by Estate Intel, which estimates that Lagos’ total data centre capacity will exceed 218MW by 2030, more than 3.7 times its current capacity of 78.6MW.

Major projects driving Nigeria’s expansion include 21st Century Technologies’ planned 50MW facility in Ikeja, Airtel’s 38MW Nxtra data centre in Eko Atlantic and Open Access Data Centres’ 24MW development in Ilasan.

Estate Intel noted that while installed capacity is expanding faster than current utilisation, the market remains balanced because data centre investments are typically structured for long-term demand growth.

Industry analysts also observe that industrial real estate, data centres and student accommodation are increasingly becoming preferred investment segments for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) across Africa, reflecting investors’ growing appetite for resilient, income-generating assets.

The continued expansion of Africa’s data centre industry reinforces the continent’s growing role in the global digital economy as demand for cloud services, AI applications and digital infrastructure continues to strengthen