IN AFRICA

Large-scale data centres are now being built in parts of China and in Nigeria

China is only one of the opportunities at which investors are looking. Another is Africa, where data centres are few and far between, but the continent’s economies are increasingly going digital, data is migrating to the cloud, and companies are using artificial intelligence to analyse big data.

“Africa is at an inflection point and we expect to see an explosion in growth of demand for hosting capacity in independently owned data centres across the continent,” says David Morley, head of real estate at Actis.

The biggest African market except South Africa is Nigeria, where Morley recently led an investment into the country’s leading data centre company, Rack Centre, which is looking to build its capacity to 10 megawatts of computing power from 750 kilowatts currently.

Chinese money has been at the forefront of backing Africa’s economic development during the past decade or so, especially when it comes to building physical infrastructure such as roads, railways and power stations, but investors from China are only just starting to look at the opportunities in African data.

In December 2019, China Telecom agreed a partnership with Africa Data Centres, the continent’s biggest data centre company, through its Johannesburg facility. The deal will give the Chinese company a key foothold in this exciting market.

“China Telecom’s investment in Africa Data Centres’ points of presence means our customers can look forward to reliable, low-latency, worldwide connectivity,” says Stephane Duproz, chief executive of Africa Data Centres, who adds that China Telecom’s presence “heralds the start of a long and fruitful relationship aimed at growing co-location services across the continent”.

As many of us experience quarantine for the first (and hopefully only) time in our lives, the value of digital connectedness has never been more apparent. From grandparents connecting with their grandkids to remote workers having virtual meetings with clients and colleagues, the demand for data is headed in only one direction—and that creates an unprecedented investment opportunity, whether in China, Africa or other markets around the world. Data might be the new gold—but, unlike the yellow metal, it is not a finite resource.