Africa’s AI infrastructure investment is increasingly concentrated in a handful of markets, with South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Morocco attracting growing data center investment while much of Sub-Saharan Africa remains limited by unreliable power and weak connectivity, according to a July 2026 report.
South Africa and Nigeria have each attracted more than $5 billion in data center investment announcements since 2020, while Kenya has secured a $1 billion Microsoft-G42 project for a 1-gigawatt green data center campus.
The concentration reflects the infrastructure requirements of AI. Investors favor markets with reliable electricity, strong fiber networks, international connectivity, available land, financing and predictable regulation, the report said.
That creates a potential gap between African economies able to attract large AI infrastructure projects and those unable to meet the underlying requirements.
Globally, data center investment across emerging markets and developing economies has risen from about $6 billion in 2015 to more than $25 billion in 2026, peaking at about $31 billion in 2024. Yet most new facilities are being built in Asia, while Sub-Saharan Africa remains a smaller market.
The report says data centers can generate wider economic benefits through construction, engineering, software, cybersecurity and cloud services, while localized computing can improve services such as fintech and logistics. But those gains depend on affordable connectivity, digital skills and supportive regulation.
The report warns that infrastructure investment does not automatically translate into broad-based economic gains.
AI adoption depends on affordability, digital skills, complementary investment and predictable regulation, in addition to computing infrastructure.
If investment remains concentrated in a few markets, those economies could accumulate not only data centers but also the associated fiber networks, cloud services, skilled workers and business ecosystems. Other African economies could instead remain primarily consumers of AI services hosted elsewhere.
The labor effects could also be uneven. The report cites evidence that a 1% increase in AI spending is associated with a 0.21% increase in demand for skilled labor but a 0.15% decline in demand for unskilled labor, increasing the risk of wage polarization.
That makes skills development and infrastructure investment complementary rather than separate policy priorities.
For Africa, the challenge is therefore shifting from simply attracting data centers to building regional infrastructure ecosystems that can spread the benefits of AI investment beyond the continent’s existing digital hubs.
