MTN joins the AI race with data centres in Nigeria and South Africa

MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile phone company, plans to build data centres designed for artificial intelligence in Nigeria and South Africa, with an initial capacity of about 150 megawatts.

The project will be developed through Africa Data Hub Holding, a joint venture between MTN and an investor backed by the United Arab Emirates that has built data centres in the Gulf. MTN will be a minority shareholder, while its partner provides most of the money and technical expertise. The investor has not been named.

What was announced

MTN Group chief executive Ralph Mupita disclosed the plan in late August while setting out the company’s ambitions beyond traditional telecoms. The first phase is expected to provide about 150 MW of capacity, with further expansion depending on demand. MTN has not published a construction timeline or the total cost.

Mupita also said MTN is exploring banking licences in some markets, so that it can eventually lend to customers from its own balance sheet through its fintech business.

Why AI needs data centres

Artificial intelligence runs on huge amounts of computing power. Training and running AI models requires specialised chips housed in data centres that consume large amounts of electricity and need constant cooling.

Today, most of that capacity is in the United States, Europe and Asia. Africa has very little. An IMF paper this year estimated that sub-Saharan Africa has about 160 data centre facilities, roughly 5.5 percent of global installations by count and a far smaller share of capacity. Nearly half are in just three countries: South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.

That gap has real costs. When African companies, governments and universities use AI services hosted abroad, their data leaves the continent, response times are slower and they pay in foreign currency. Building capacity locally could change that.

A growing market

Africa’s AI market is projected to grow from about $4.5 billion in 2025 to $16.5 billion by 2030. Industry estimates suggest the continent’s data centre market needs $10 billion to $20 billion of new investment in the coming years.

MTN has already been moving in this direction. In July, MTN Nigeria opened the Sifiso Dabengwa Data Centre in Lagos, a 9 MW facility that the company describes as West Africa’s largest Tier III data centre. The new AI centres would be on a far larger scale.

The Gulf connection

Gulf investors, especially from the UAE, have become major players in African infrastructure, from ports to renewable energy and now digital infrastructure. The UAE has announced plans to invest $1 billion in AI infrastructure across Africa.

The challenges

• Electricity. Data centres need reliable, affordable power. Nigeria and South Africa have both struggled with power cuts, though South Africa’s supply has improved.
• Skills. Running AI infrastructure requires specialist engineers.
• Demand. The business case depends on African companies and governments actually using AI at scale.

Why it matters

If Africa is to benefit from the AI revolution rather than simply import it, it needs its own computing infrastructure. MTN’s plan is one of the most significant signals yet that private capital believes that demand is coming.

Sources: Nairametrics, 26 August 2026; IMF; DataCenterDynamics; MTN Nigeria.

Top photo: Server racks inside a data centre (file photo). Photo: BalticServers.com, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0