• Africa counts 211 active data centers, with 46% located in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, and Egypt
• Rising demand for hyperscale, cloud, and AI drives investments across key hubs
• Africa still holds under 1% of global data capacity, showing large growth potential

Africa has 211 operational data centers, but nearly half of them are concentrated in just four countries, according to a report released on September 1, 2025, by Nigerian firm Heirs Technologies.

The study, Africa’s Digital Leap: Cloud, Connectivity & AI in the Next Decade, shows South Africa leading with 49 centers—about one-quarter of the continental total—followed by Kenya (18), Nigeria (16), and Egypt (14).

Other notable markets include Angola (8), Morocco (8), Ghana (7), Senegal (7), Ethiopia (5), Algeria (5), and Côte d’Ivoire (5).

Growing demand for hyperscale computing, regional colocation, and AI-ready infrastructure has fueled interest in South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya.

Regional hubs

In West Africa, Nigeria dominates with major facilities in Lagos and Abuja. Certified Tier III centers are operated by Rack Centre, Equinix (MainOne), Digital Realty, NTT Global, MTN, Galaxy Backbone, OADC, and ipNX Nigeria. Ghana and Senegal are also emerging, with data centers serving as cloud gateways for the ECOWAS bloc.

In East Africa, Kenya leads with facilities clustered in Nairobi and Mombasa. Operators include Digital Realty, iXAfrica, Telkom, PAIX, and Safaricom, serving both public and private clients.

North Africa is growing steadily, with Egypt and Morocco hosting data centers run by telecom operators such as Telecom Egypt, Etisalat Misr, and Orange, alongside regional cloud providers.

Southern Africa remains the most mature market, driven by South Africa, home to hyperscale sites operated by AWS, Microsoft Azure, Teraco, Vodacom Business, Equinix, and NTT Global. These facilities support operations across Africa and serve as interconnection points for submarine fiber systems.

Shift toward cloud services

The report highlights a shift as leading African data center operators expand into full cloud infrastructure providers. Equinix, Digital Realty, and Liquid Intelligent Technologies now offer cloud migration support, IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service), and interconnection platforms linking hyperscalers with local businesses and governments.

Cloud infrastructure is spreading across Africa. South Africa hosts 12 cloud providers in Cape Town and Johannesburg, including Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Huawei. Egypt has five in Cairo, while Nairobi hosts three (AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure).

Local challengers are also emerging. In Nigeria, startups such as Nobus, Layer3, and Galaxy Backbone offer hosting, local currency billing, and low-latency solutions, addressing currency volatility and data sovereignty needs. Similar trends are seen with Pawa IT and Safaricom Cloud in Kenya, GPX and Link Datacenter in Egypt, Paratus in Namibia, and Dimension Data in South Africa.

Room to grow

Despite this progress, Africa accounts for less than 1% of global data center capacity and just 0.5% of the international cloud market. The report stresses the need for more infrastructure investment, stronger regulation, and talent development to unlock the continent’s digital economy potential.