Africa’s data centre demand could surge 5x by 2030, require $20 billion

Africa's data centre market is set for explosive growth, with demand projected to surge fivefold by 2030, necessitating a substantial $10 billion to $20 billion in fresh investment, according to Knight Frank's Africa Report 2026/27. The consultancy attributes this surge to the burgeoning demand for cloud services, AI, and other data-heavy digital offerings across the continent.

Africa's appetite for data centre capacity is expected to expand three to five times by 2030, signaling an emerging infrastructure opportunity as businesses and consumers increasingly rely on cloud computing, digital platforms, and AI-powered services.

Nigeria is poised to be a central player in Africa's data centre boom, with Knight Frank identifying the nation as the linchpin of regional demand in West Africa. The country currently boasts around 66 MW of third-party core-and-shell data centre capacity as of late 2024, with ample room for additional development. Nigeria's robust enterprise sector, diverse subsea cable connections, and increasing regulatory focus on local data hosting are all fueling the demand for domestic data centre capacity.

Lagos is the epicenter of this opportunity, with Knight Frank highlighting the city as a potential low-latency hub serving the wider ECOWAS market.

Nigeria's data centre market has already been on a robust growth trajectory, with a separate November 2025 report by Estate Intel projecting installed capacity to skyrocket from 56.1 MW in 2025 to over 218 MW by 2030 – an almost fourfold increase in just five years. Estate Intel describes the sector as maintaining steady momentum since the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the criticality and resilience of digital infrastructure.

At the continental level, Fortren & Company reported in July 2026 that Africa's operational data centre capacity had surpassed the 500 MW mark, with another 890 MW of projects slated for development. This expansion is driven by a surge in demand for cloud computing, AI, data storage, and digital transformation initiatives. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has also directed banks, payment service providers, and fintech companies to localize customer and transaction data within Nigeria by January 2027, a policy expected to catalyze the country's digital infrastructure sector.

While some stakeholders have expressed concerns about the implementation costs and infrastructure readiness, operators of Nigeria's largest data centres remain optimistic, stating that the policy could unlock significant investment, enhance data sovereignty, and decrease the nation's reliance on foreign infrastructure.