When people hear the word “boom” in the African context, it often evokes images of oil rigs erupting in Nigeria or diamond mines in Angola. But Africa is quietly entering a different kind of boom—one that hums instead of explodes. The new frontier is data. More specifically: the infrastructure needed to store it, secure it, and transmit it at lightning speed. Data centres are emerging as Africa’s version of oil wells, and this time, the fuel is digital.
The numbers are hard to ignore. Mobile data use in Africa is increasing by around 40% annually, nearly double the global average. Yet, the continent still accounts for less than 1% of the world’s data-centre capacity. It’s like a continent with a massive oil reserve but just a few rusty barrels. That imbalance is beginning to change. In recent years, investment in Africa’s digital backbone has surged. Multinational tech companies, African startups, and international financial institutions are all betting big on one thing: that Africa will be the next digital frontier.
Earlier this year, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) announced a landmark $100 million investment in Raxio Group. This funding is helping to build state-of-the-art data centres in countries often overlooked in global tech conversations—places like Ethiopia, Uganda, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. These aren’t just server warehouses—they’re engines of growth, bringing internet services closer to users, creating jobs, enabling financial inclusion, and attracting cloud giants like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft to the continent’s shores.
One of the forces driving this change is necessity. Africa’s young, urban, and mobile population is demanding more and better digital services—banking, education, government portals, AI tools, and streaming platforms. Storing and managing that data offshore, as has long been the norm, creates costly inefficiencies, privacy concerns, and serious lag. Hosting it locally is a game-changer.
But here’s the plot twist: powering these data centres isn’t easy. Unlike Europe or the U.S., many African countries face chronic electricity challenges. Blackouts are routine, national grids are weak, and fuel prices are volatile. Yet this has pushed African data-centre operators to innovate in ways that are increasingly being adopted globally. From massive solar arrays and geothermal energy to battery storage and liquid cooling, Africa’s data infrastructure is going green out of sheer necessity—and setting new standards for energy efficiency in the process.
Take Kenya, for example. Its Konza Technopolis—dubbed “Silicon Savannah”—is home to a Tier III national data centre that runs on a mix of renewable energy sources. Microsoft recently announced a billion-dollar investment to build an Azure cloud region in Kenya powered almost entirely by geothermal energy. That’s not just sustainable—it’s revolutionary.
In South Africa, Teraco, the largest data-centre operator on the continent, is building a 120-megawatt solar plant to power its Johannesburg facility. Meanwhile, Rwanda is experimenting with micro-data hubs powered by hybrid solar grids, a model that could be replicated across underserved rural areas. These aren’t just technical solutions; they’re strategic moves in the global race for digital sovereignty.
Submarine cables are also rewriting the rules. Google’s Equiano cable, which links Portugal to West and Southern Africa, has significantly boosted internet speeds and cut costs. New inland fibre networks are extending those gains into landlocked countries. As infrastructure deepens, services become faster, cheaper, and more inclusive. Suddenly, a young software developer in Goma, DRC, can access the same tools as her counterpart in Johannesburg or London.
This is no small shift. The African digital economy is expected to grow to $180 billion by 2025 and could surpass $700 billion by 2050. But to get there, the continent needs to add hundreds of megawatts of data-centre capacity and train thousands of skilled technicians, engineers, and cybersecurity experts. Fortunately, governments are waking up. Countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa have adopted data protection laws that mirror the EU’s GDPR. These regulations require companies to store sensitive data within national borders, spurring the construction of local centres and reinforcing digital independence.
Still, challenges loom. Many countries still lack adequate fibre infrastructure or suffer from high internet costs. Skills shortages remain a bottleneck, and political instability can deter long-term investment. But the trajectory is unmistakable. Where once Africa was seen as a passive consumer of global technology, it’s now positioning itself as an active digital producer and regulator.
And here’s the kicker: all of this is unfolding with far less fanfare than it deserves. While headlines focus on coups, migration, or resource conflicts, Africa is quietly building the nervous system of a modern digital economy. These data centres may not be as visually dramatic as oil rigs, but they represent a cleaner, smarter, and more inclusive form of infrastructure—one that’s capable of reshaping economies from the ground up.
Africa’s new oil boom hums quietly behind security fences, cooled by solar power and staffed by local engineers. And this time, it’s not the colonial companies that stand to gain the most—it’s the continent itself. The data gold rush is on, and Africa isn’t just watching—it’s leading.
