(Ecofin Agency) - In recent years, Africa has seen a surge in demand for connectivity, data storage, and processing capabilities. Investments have been ramping up to meet this growing need.

Data center operator Raxio Group announced it will commission its data center under construction in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in July. This was revealed by Dominique Migisha, coordinator of the Digital Development Agency (ADN), after a visit to the construction site on Friday March 29.

"The DRC is aiming for a digital economy. To achieve this, we need a data storage infrastructure that meets international standards. This will be a historic turning point. We're a big country, we generate a lot of data, which is the oil of tomorrow, and we're delighted to have this private partner who will finally enable the DRC to move towards digitization in a sovereign way," said Mr. Migisha.

As a reminder, Raxio Group announced its plans to build a Tier 3 neutral data center in Kinshasa back in March 2021. This initiative is part of the company's 2019 commitment to establish ten to twelve data centers across Africa to cater to the rising demand for connectivity, storage, and data processing.

According to the "Data Centres in Africa" report by Oxford Business Group in October 2021, the continent needs 700 facilities and 1,000 MW of computing capacity to bridge the observed gap. Furthermore, the market size is expected to grow from $740.2 million in 2024 to $1.7 billion in 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 17.9%, according to the "Africa Data Center Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts Up To 2029" report by market research firm Mordor Intelligence.