The Datacloud Africa Agenda

As we enter the era of cloud computing in Africa, with hyperscale presence and trust in the continent ramping up, and consumer demands evolving, the race is on to deliver the requisite capacity. The big questions remain around the size of the capacity requirements, who will build at scale, and how. This panel will discuss the following:

• Will we see a shift to more wholesale-oriented markets?
• How will edge node and unified edge zone expansion play out?
• How is appetite for funding impacted by hyperscale presence?

Data centres are proven catalysts for economic development across the continent, however there is a problem. Africa accounts for 15% of the world’s population, and yet only ~1% of data centres globally are situated on the continent. With the market anticipated to reach a valuation of $5 billion by 2026, tremendous growth is expected, but how is this potential being realised? This session will explore:

• What lessons can be learnt from other global markets?
• How can new data sovereignty rules pave the way for expansion and create a cloud-first connected environment ?
• What innovative connectivity partnerships are emerging?

Africa’s data centre market is estimated to reach around 1,200 MW by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 15.41%. Tier 1 markets may not have grown quickly as expected, but how are these more mature colocation markets tracking now, and will expansion into tier 2 and 3 markets take off sooner than expected? This panel will explore:

• What pressure points are emerging?
• Which ‘spoke’ markets show the most promise?
• What do supply and take-up levels tell us about growth trajectories? And has locking-in of demand been slower than expected?

Data centres are the most promising asset class, owing primarily to the enourmous demand – there will never be enough data centres in Africa. However, the current economic environment has seen investments come off the boil. The session will explore how clever and patient capital is crucial to data centre expansion:

• How does valuation pressure affect performance?
• What does the current FX environment mean for deals?
• How can operators build an attractive proposition for investors?
• What’s driving investor positivity, and can it continue?

Various terrestrial fibre projects are providing direct and dependable connections to and between data centres, enabling low-latency use cases, and in turn ensuring intra-continent data exchange and storage. Coupled with the carrier-neutral model, a thriving ecosystem of local and international data centres and carriers interconnecting and exchanging traffic is growing, but is it growing quickly enough? This session will explore:

• What collaborative efforts between data centre operators and owners of fibre are underway to connect the next billion?
• What level of investment is required, and where is it lacking?
• Is there a need for an open marketplace for connectivity and data centre services?

With the data centre market in Africa poised to grow at an unprecedented rate, getting it right when it comes to location is paramount. Navigating partnerships for invaluable local insights, the nuanced choice between greenfield and brownfield, and seizing opportunities to positively impact communities present strategic challenges. Ensuring scalability, understanding geographical factors, and navigating land leasing intricacies further complicate the terrain. The panel will explore:

• How is the site selection checklist evolving?
• What is being done to secure power for sites?
• How is interconnection point proximity impacting decision-making?

As cloud services, edge computing, IoT, and AI bring about higher rack densities, the demand for efficient cooling solutions in African data centers becomes a paramount concern. Our experts will explore air, liquid, and immersion cooling methods to unearth the evolving best practices tailored to the distinct demands of African data centres.

As data centre demand increases and becomes more complex, construction timelines are stretching, with builds taking up to 50% longer than planned. In order to deliver facilities designed to cope with the anticipated computing demands driven by AI, streaming, and cloud services, as well as meeting sustainability and CSR requirements, there’s an imperative to build quicker and far more efficiently than before. This panel will address the following questions:

• How is macro environment volatility impacting materials supply? And what contingency strategies are being put in place to combat delays?
• Is modular becoming the new standard?
• What new technologies are being employed?

Kenya’s data centre market is predicted to reach $434 million by 2027, according to Arizton – how is this growth being achieved?

• What is the anatomy of a DC deal in Kenya?
• What are the hurdles to entry?
• How is the wholesale colocation market maturing?

There are an estimated 40 to 50 live edge compute servers in Africa, and this is projected to increase by a factor of 10 in the next couple of years. The requirement for local data storage and the growth of time-sensitive applications such as Mobile money, telemedicine, and agritech are among the drivers fueling this edge requirement, demanding the processing of large volumes of data where the consumers are located. This session will discuss:

• What are the challenges on the route to success?
• Where next for significant edge deployments?
• How quickly will the market move to the edge?
• What opportunities can edge data centres unlock for the ecosystem?

Generative AI demand has ballooned, and the impact on the industry is clearly illustrated by Nvidia’s announcement that their data centre revenues have risen over 400% on last year. Specifically for the continent, it is projected that AI will contribute an estimated $1.2 trillion to GDP by 2030, but applications are compute intensive and power hungry. In order to get it right and reap bottom-line benefits, data centre operators need to design and build for the future. This forward-thinking panel will navigate the challenges and share how to enable and harness the transformative potential of AI for sustainable growth in Africa:

• How are operators designing and building for the future?
• What trends and strategies are emerging regarding rack densities?
• How other enterprise use-cases such as blockchain and fintech impacting capacity planning?