Vodacom Seeks Partners for African AI Data Centres

Vodacom Group will seek partners to build AI data centres across Africa, Chief Executive Shameel Joosub told Bloomberg in an interview republished by Moneyweb. "Egypt, Kenya, South Africa are our bigger markets," Joosub said. "It will be a big investment, and that is why we're bringing on partners."

Vodacom already works with Cassava Technologies and ElSewedy Electric Co on an AI data centre in Egypt. Joosub did not disclose how much funding the wider expansion would require.

The planned joint ventures will use equity and debt financing. Vodacom expects to hold stakes in the facilities and handle most customer sales for their computing capacity.

Africa houses less than 1% of global data centre capacity, according to the report. Rival MTN Group recently partnered with a Middle East based investment platform to start building AI data centres in Nigeria and South Africa.