As Africa's digital transformation accelerates, Equinix, a global digital infrastructure business with a market cap of US$77 billion, is making significant investments into the continent.
Speaking to ITWeb Africa, on the sidelines of the Africa Tech Festival this week in Cape Town, Wole Abu, MD, Equinix West Africa, talked about the company’s strategic expansion in West Africa, and investments it’s making to support the local digital economy.
Abu said Africa has been vastly underserved and there is much opportunity for growth.
“The data that we see indicates that we have about one percent of global datacentre capacity in Africa, while Africa has 17% of the world's population. If you do the maths, you see that we should, at least, have some more digital infrastructure here (in Africa).
“As we (as a continent) begin to appreciate more fully the importance of digital transformation, we're also beginning to see the enabling policy shifts that attract the investment and give the confidence to infrastructure providers.”
He went on to discuss Equinix's multimillion-dollar investment strategy, including a Equinix to build $22m data centre in Nigeria.
“The $22 million facility, LG3, an interconnection hub that we have started building and will be ready for service in quarter one of 2026, is part of a broader plan that we had announced earlier: $100 million investment in expanding our footprint across Africa.”
On Equinix’ plans over the next five years, Abu said: “You can expect to see more builds. Every year you're going to see something from Equinix, at least in the short term.
“We have very long-term plans, we are not a fly-by-night company. Equinix has been operating for 30 years. And in Nigeria, we have a long-term plan. We have the land for foreseeable future developments.
"We have plans to harden our power infrastructure. We have plans to make sure that the global AI players who want to come into Africa have a home, have a secure, safe, reputable facility (in which) to put their workloads.”
Asked whether the recent wave of datacentre investments in Africa were leading to potential oversaturation, he said: “The only thing we have too much of in Africa is poverty.
“We welcome investors. This is what everybody is waiting for. We want investors to come to Africa. It's not saturated.”
Abu noted that digital infrastructure is also closely linked to power infrastructure and other types of physical infrastructure such as roads and connectivity, which are still emerging in Africa.
He went on to highlight that there were issues facing Africa’s digital transformation, however, including varying levels of internet penetration, access, and affordability.
“How many enterprises are digital first? How many schools?” he asked.
“This is why we're not just building physical infrastructure. We're also ensuring that the ecosystem is developed.”
An example, he said, is a social impact initiative Equinix is running in collaboration with Unconnected.org, which helps offer internet access and digital tools to underserved communities in Nigeria, and across West Africa.
“We have partnered with Unconnected.org through our foundation, with $800,000 of our money, to help bring the education sector, those people who are underserved into the ecosystem,” he said.
Share
