AFRICA DATA CENTERS

Africa's data center market is expanding beyond its established South African base, with new capacity developing across Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco, Ghana, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Tanzania, Uganda, and other markets.

Arizton tracks 203 facilities across 14 African markets, including 142 existing and 61 upcoming data centers. The upcoming pipeline represents nearly 2.46 GW of IT capacity, more than 4.4 times the current operational base.

DATA CENTERS IN AFRICA - MARKET AT A GLANCE

1. 142 existing data centers are currently tracked.
2. 61 upcoming facilities are in the development pipeline.
3. 58 operators and investors are covered.
4. South Africa accounts for around 64% of Africa's operational IT capacity.
5. Egypt has 476 MW of upcoming IT capacity, nearly 28 times its existing capacity.
6. The upcoming pipeline represents nearly 2.46 GW of IT capacity.

The market is therefore characterized by a large established base in South Africa alongside rapid capacity expansion in emerging African markets.

DATA CENTER FACILITY INTELLIGENCE

The Africa Data Center Portfolio goes beyond a basic list of facilities by tracking the physical, technical, commercial, and development characteristics of individual data centers.

For existing facilities, the database captures location, address, operator/owner, facility name, white-floor area, IT load capacity, rack capacity, year of operation, Tier standard, and power/cooling redundancy.

For upcoming projects, it tracks investor, location, planned area, IT load capacity, investment, infrastructure investment split, announcement year, project status, and expected opening year.

EXISTING DATA CENTERS IN AFRICA

Operational facilities with capacity and infrastructure details: The existing facility database covers 142 operational data centers across the 14 markets, supporting comparisons of facility scale, capacity, infrastructure design, operators, and locations.

EXISTING FACILITY DATA POINTS

1. Region, country, and city
2. Full facility address
3. Operator/owner name
4. Data center/facility name
5. Core & shell white-floor area
6. Core & shell IT load capacity
7. Rack capacity
8. Year of operation
9. Tier I–IV design standard
10. Power redundancy
11. Cooling/mechanical redundancy

UPCOMING DATA CENTER PROJECTS IN AFRICA

Track future capacity, investment, and development status: The portfolio tracks 61 upcoming data center facilities, providing visibility into announced, planned, and under-construction projects across Africa. Together, these projects represent nearly 2.46 GW of upcoming IT capacity.

UPCOMING FACILITY DATA POINTS

1. Investor name
2. Region, country, and project location
3. Planned white-floor area
4. Planned IT load/power capacity
5. Total investment
6. Electrical infrastructure investment
7. Mechanical infrastructure investment
8. General construction investment
9. Announcement year
10. Project status
11. Active or expected year of opening

DATA CENTER OPERATORS & CLOUD PROVIDERS IN AFRICA

The database covers 58 operators and investors active across Africa, from the continent's capacity leaders to global colocation platforms, national telecoms, AI-infrastructure ventures and regional specialists.

1. Capacity leaders: Teraco (Digital Realty), Africa Data Centres, Open Access Data Centres (OADC)
2. Global and regional colocation platforms: Equinix, Digital Realty & Pembani Remgro's (Medallion), Vantage Data Centers, IXAfrica, Raxio Group, N+One Datacenters, Paratus, Rack Centre
3. National telecom and infrastructure groups: MTN, Vodacom Business, Airtel Africa (Nxtra), Orange Business, Safaricom, Telkom Kenya, Telecom Egypt, Maroc Telecom, Etisalat, inwi
4. AI-infrastructure and hyperscale ventures: G42 + Microsoft, Khazna Data Centers + Benya Group, Gulf Data Hub + Elsewedy Data Centers, Naver Cloud
5. Regional and specialist operators: Cassava Technologies, Xneelo, ipNX, Raya Data Center, Digital Parks Africa, Fringe Infrastructure, Wingu Group, CWG PLC, Cloudoon

LIST OF DATA CENTER INVESTORS/OPERATORS IN AFRICA

21 Century technologies, 3MDC (Medasys), Africa Data Centres, Africa50 & Raya Data Center, Airtel Africa (Nxtra), Business Connexion, Cassava Technologies, CipherWave, CityNet Telecom, Cloud Exchange (DimensionData), Cloudoon, CWG PLC, Cybastion, Digital Parks Africa, Digital Realty & Pembani Remgro’s (Medallion), ECC Solutions, EgyptNetwork, Equinix, Etisalat, Excelsimo Networks, Fringe Infrastructure, G42 + Microsoft, GPX Global Systems, Gulf Data Hub + Elsewedy Data Centers, Helios Investment Partners, Internet Initiative Japan, Internet Solutions ZA (Dimesionsion Data part of NTT), inwi, Iozera, ipNX, IXAfrica, Kasi Cloud, Khazna Data Centers + Benya Group, Maroc Telecom, MTN, N+One Datacenters, Naver Cloud, NEOIX, NTT & Dimesnsion Data, Oman Data Park & Intro Technology, Open Access Data Centres (OADC), Orange Business, PAIX, Paratus, Rack Centre, Raxio Group, Raya Data Center, Safaricom, ST Digital, Telecom Egypt, Telekom Kenya, Teraco (Digital Realty), The Cavaleros Group, UniCloud Africa & BDIC, Vantage Data Centers, Vodacom Business, Wingu Group, Xneelo.

AFRICA DATA CENTER PROJECTS DEVELOPMENT - 2031

Africa's upcoming data center pipeline is significantly larger than its current operational base.

The 61 upcoming facilities are expected to add nearly 2.46 GW of IT capacity, equivalent to more than 4.4 times the current operational base. Egypt is one of the strongest emerging markets, with 476 MW of upcoming IT capacity.

This provides visibility into where future capacity is being developed and how the regional data center footprint is changing.

GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE ACROSS AFRICA

The portfolio covers 14 African markets:

Angola | Democratic Republic of Congo | Djibouti | Ethiopia | Egypt | Ghana | Ivory Coast | Kenya | Morocco | Mozambique | Nigeria | South Africa | Tanzania | Uganda

This geographic coverage enables analysis of established data center markets, emerging locations, operator expansion, regional capacity, and new project activity.

DATA CENTER CAPACITY & INFRASTRUCTURE

The portfolio tracks the key facility-level indicators required to understand data center scale and capacity distribution.

1. White-Floor Area: Assess the existing and upcoming physical IT space at individual facilities.
2. IT Load Capacity: Compare current operational power capacity with planned additions.
3. Rack Capacity: Assess rack deployment and facility-level infrastructure where available.

The database includes existing white-floor area, upcoming white-floor area, current IT load capacity, and future capacity additions from 2026–2031.

AFRICA DATA CENTER COLOCATION PRICING

The portfolio includes colocation pricing alongside facility and infrastructure information.

PRICING COVERAGE

1. Quarter rack / 1⁄4 rack
2. Half rack cabinet
3. Full rack cabinet
4. Full cabinet configurations such as 42U / 45U / 47U
5. Wholesale colocation pricing per kW

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH THE AFRICA DATA CENTER PORTFOLIO?

1. Identify existing facilities — Build a structured view of operational data centers by country, city, operator, capacity, and infrastructure.
2. Track upcoming projects — Monitor announced, planned, and under-construction facilities.
3. Compare operators — Benchmark operators by facility footprint, IT capacity, rack capacity, and geographic presence.
4. Map investment — Identify where new data center capacity and capital are being deployed.
5. Assess market capacity — Compare existing and upcoming white-floor area, IT load, and rack capacity.
6. Evaluate countries — Compare established and emerging African data center markets.
7. Benchmark colocation — Use retail and wholesale pricing data to understand local commercial conditions.
8. Support market entry — Identify operators, investors, locations, projects, and expansion opportunities.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1. Primary sources: data center contractors and subcontractors, system integrators (power, cooling, physical security, fire suppression), developers and infrastructure providers.
2. Secondary sources: Arizton monitors 500+ colocation operators across about 50 countries through press releases, annual reports, investor presentations, industry reports, and news.
3. Clean counting: phase-wise expansions sit in existing facilities. Ground-up builds sit in upcoming. Campuses count only operational buildings. Capacity colocated inside another provider's facility is not double-counted.
4. Actual and estimated values: investment figures blend reported and estimated values, with estimates based on the average data center build cost in Africa.