Accelerated Construction of Data Centers in the Middle East and Africa

As the “Stargate” project in the United Arab Emirates dominates the digital infrastructure headlines, the entire Middle East and Africa region is quietly experiencing a data center construction boom. Sebastien Bonneau, a lawyer at McDermott Will&Emery law firm, revealed to Fierce that in addition to the leading UAE (56 data centers) and Saudi Arabia (43 data centers), emerging markets such as Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Bahrain, and Oman are accelerating their layout.

The “2030 Vision” proposed by the Egyptian government clearly aims to build the country into a regional center for data exchange and AI. At present, Egypt has about 14 data centers, and local enterprise Raya Data Center received $15 million in financing from Africa50 Investment Group in December 2024 to build a new green data center outside Cairo. The government led “Atlas Plan” aims to build a global data center complex driven by renewable energy. Bonneau said that the project is “large-scale” and is expected to strengthen the digital connection between Africa and Europe.

Kenya has made a name for itself with the cheap and clean energy provided by hydropower, while Morocco has also shown a growth trend. It is worth noting that the main force driving the development of these regions is not ultra large scale enterprises. Middle Eastern newcomer Qareeb Data Centers is building 50MW edge capacity in eight countries including Saudi Arabia and Bahrain; Agile Logistics Parks is building data center parks in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait; Saudi based company DataVolt has launched multiple projects in the country and Uzbekistan.

Bonneau pointed out that the difficulty in coordinating electricity, networks, and demand is the main bottleneck restricting the development of central Africa, which also makes Egypt’s layout more strategic. “The ability to provide high-performance digital infrastructure is directly related to the competitiveness of these countries in attracting businesses and achieving economic growth, “he concluded.