Kenya Suspends $1 Billion Microsoft Data Centre as Energy Shortfall Raises Doubts over Africa’s AI Ambitions

Kenya suspends $1 billion Microsoft data centre as energy shortfall raises doubts over Africa’s AI ambitions

The facility, first announced during Ruto’s state visit to Washington in May 2024, was expected to be located about 100 kilometres northwest of Nairobi and run largely on geothermal energy. The investment, valued at approximately $1 billion, was positioned as a flagship project to deliver cloud services via Microsoft’s Azure platform to businesses and government institutions. However, speaking in Nairobi last week, Ruto said the scale of the pro…

$1 Billion Kenya's Microsoft Data Center Project Suspended Due to Inadequate Power Capacity

Kenya’s plans to construct a $1 billion data centre backed by Microsoft and UAE-based G42 have stalled. This is after President William Ruto said the country lacks sufficient power capacity to support the data center project. The data center facility was first announced during Ruto’s state visit to Washington in May 2024. It was expected […] The post $1 Billion Kenya’s Microsoft Data Center Project Suspended Due to Inadequate Power Capacity appe…