“As potential demand and data center sizes both grow, so does the complexity in forecasting,” said BloombergNEF (BNEF) Senior Associate Nathalie Limandibhratha.

The analysts, while making the prediction, used two scenarios. The experiment, however, resulted in the two models differing by 42 GW in terms of estimating the US data center electricity demand by 2030. As per the BloombergNEF, the divergence only shows growing uncertainty about the scale of the data center buildout even as the trend accelerates.

A base case modeled on US data center development BNEF considers likely to materialise showed demand from the sector of 118 GW in 2030 and 194 GW by 2035, an upward revision of 52% and 83%, respectively, from the firm’s previous outlook, published in December 2025. A second forecast developed around expected AI chip deliveries found there could be 207 GW of data center demand by 2033.

“The report highlights the difficulties in modeling the new demand. BNEF underestimated installed data-center capacity in 2025. Installed capacity topped 47 GW by the end of last year, 16% higher than BNEF’s forecast,” the agency said, while publishing its report.

“We track data centers across the US, and in the last year, we’ve added about 100 GW of project capacity. It’s not only the number of data centers and new developers that are flooding the market, but it’s also the size of these data centers,” Limandibhratha said.

That 42 GW difference, as per the BNEF analysts, is more than four times the peak load of New York City, and the tally, by 2033, will grow to 63 GW.

“Driving the uncertainty are the growing size of data centers, power availability, and the extent to which developers get more efficient in their building,” BNEF said.

“When BNEF was forecasting data center demand a year ago, a 1-GW project was considered large. In our pipeline now, we have over 70 projects that are a gigawatt in size, and even some projects that are multiple gigawatts, up to 10 GW, which is really skewing the project pipeline, and kind of ballooning and leading to the upwards revision as we get more data on how the market is evolving,” Limandibhratha remarked.

US data center demand in 2025 was almost 50 GW, she said, and it’s on pace to more than double over five years.

“It’s quite significant and rapid growth,” the senior analyst noted.

“Almost all US regions ended 2025 with more data center capacity than BNEF had anticipated, with Texas accounting for the largest difference between forecast and actual build,” the agency observed.

BNEF estimated 7.4 GW of data center capacity in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas footprint by the 2025 end. Actual demand, as per the report, has now been revised to 8.9 GW. With about 16 GW of data center demand, the PJM Interconnection, out of all the American regions, had the highest power requirement in 2025.

BNEF’s base outlook is relatively conservative, its analysts said.

“Among those 2030 estimates of installed data center capacity, there is about a 100-GW range,” Limandibhratha concluded.

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The world’s largest iron ore miner is now deriving around 56% of its profit from copper and aluminium combined, turbocharged by trends like electrification and data centre expansion as CEO Simon Trott eyes making Rio Tinto’s operations simpler and sharper.

Rio Tinto has now joined BHP in reaping gains from stronger copper demand, with the peer company reporting in February it gained more profit in the half-year ending in December 2026 from the red metal than from iron ore.

For the six months ended June 30, Rio’s underlying earnings stood at USD 6.85 billion, up 43% ⁠from USD 4.81 billion seen a year earlier and broadly in line with a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of USD 6.80 billion.

The business’ underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation ⁠and amortisation (EBITDA) surged 84% to USD 5.7 billion for its copper division, while iron ore generated underlying EBITDA of USD 6.8 billion, down 1% from a year earlier.

The miner also declared its highest interim dividend in four years at USD 2.11 per share, compared with USD 1.48 per share registered in 2025. Its 2026 production and sales forecasts have remained unchanged.

While the result met analysts’ expectations and delivered on productivity promises, the mining giant still fell short of any major announcements related to optimising its portfolio of assets and infrastructure.

In December 2025, Rio said it could unlock USD 5 billion to USD 10 billion in cash through portfolio management and infrastructure initiatives. The venture now expects to achieve half of that by the 2026-end.

“Part of that will be through the agreed sale of its share of a seawater desalination plant in Dampier in Western Australia,” Trott told a media call on Wednesday, without disclosing the sale amount.

As per Trott, the miner had delivered a “step-change in performance” in the first half, helped by higher commodity prices, rising copper output and productivity gains across the business.

“We are seeing ‌shifts really ⁠across all of our commodities in terms of underlying demand,” he said, flagging growing data centre and grid storage battery demand for copper and lithium.

While Rio’s productivity growth delivered USD 870 million in benefits in the first half despite headwinds from high diesel prices and the strengthening Australian dollar, the business has remained on track to generate annualised gains of USD 1.8 billion by 2026-end.

Meanwhile, major Australian miners and industry lobbyists have asked Canberra for help in pushing back against China’s efforts to extract better terms for their iron ore, including raising the prospect of a single selling desk for Australia’s most valuable commodity export.

Asked about whether Rio would support such an effort, Trott said that the mining giant’s focus would be “solely” on its own business ⁠and “capturing synergies with adjacent producers in ways we probably haven’t done before”.

The mining giant also flagged challenges to its goal to cut emissions by 50% from 2018 levels by 2030, warning that the roadmap’s execution depended on the timely delivery of third-party renewable energy projects and commercial agreements that could not be guaranteed.

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As digital technologies permeate nearly every aspect of modern life, from financial transactions and healthcare to education and public services, the dependability and safety of data infrastructure are no longer optional and are strategic imperatives.

Applications, websites, cloud platforms, email, streaming, and banking systems are just a few of the online services that people and businesses now depend on. Each of these services is powered by a data centre, which is responsible for safely storing enormous amounts of data and processing it effectively and continuously. As a result, data centres have emerged as the backbone of the digital economy, facilitating real-time information flows and assuring the stability of national digital infrastructure.

Beyond storage and processing, data centres play a significant role in maintaining service availability. With the help of backup systems, redundant power sources, and failover procedures that reduce downtime during disturbances, they run continuously. For governments, this stability is crucial to maintaining public trust and assuring ongoing access to critical digital services.

Saudi Arabia has taken serious action after realising this fact. The Kingdom is working to build cutting-edge data centre infrastructure to support its fast-growing digital ecosystem, which already provides more than 3,500 public services across 530 government platforms, in addition to keeping up with worldwide demand.

The largest government data centre in the world, the Hexagon Data Centre in Riyadh, is at the heart of this endeavour. The facility has gained Tier IV certification from the Uptime Institute, the highest worldwide norm for data centre reliability, assuring fault tolerance and operational availability of 99.995%. This makes the Hexagon Data Centre one of the world’s most resilient establishments.

With a capacity of 480 megawatts and a footprint of over 30 million square feet, the centre is meant to fulfil the Kingdom’s long-term digital objectives. What stands out is how it leverages advanced tech for lower power use and smarter cooling. Think direct liquid or mixed cooling methods. Built to match LEED Gold rules, it now serves as one of the largest green data centres worldwide. Powering it are clean energy sources, which add weight to its eco-friendly profile.

Nowhere else is there a place quite like this one when it comes to global recognition. Its mark on international standards began long before everyone noticed. Compliance with TIA-942 shaped how everything was built inside. Recognition under ISO/IEC 22237 arrived after careful alignment with global needs for uptime and safety.

What stands clear now? The country did not aim to match existing systems but also aimed beyond them. Risk handling, power stability, and nature preservation were woven into the design from day one. Few nations hold such proof of long-term vision so quietly behind technical labels.

Importantly, the Hexagon Data Centre marks the foundation of a statewide network of data centres envisioned under the Saudi Data and AI Authority’s strategic expansion plan. Through the use of international best practices, this effort seeks to satisfy the growing demand for digital infrastructure services while guaranteeing maximum system availability.

The ramifications are significant from an economic and corporate standpoint. Establishing sovereign data centres is a strategic imperative for securing national data, enhancing technological independence, and driving economic diversification beyond oil. SDAIA predicts that the Kingdom’s data centre strategy will provide a cumulative local economic effect surpassing SR10 billion (USD 2.7 billion), plus annual savings of more than SR1.8 billion. These advantages are intended to promote public-sector efficiency, stimulate non-oil growth, and improve the quality of life through more modern and responsive government services.

Saudi Arabia’s larger digital success has already received international notice. The Kingdom recently placed first globally in the World Bank’s “GovTech Maturity Index 2025,” topping an examination of 197 countries, a milestone that indicates persistent investment in digital governance and institutional competence.

When combined, these events indicate Saudi Arabia’s quick rise to prominence in the world’s digital economy. The Kingdom is establishing itself as a dependable digital nation and a prominent technological hub in the Middle East by making significant investments in safe, sustainable, and high-performance data centres.

The Hexagon Data Centre stands as a physical product of this transition. It’s a symbol of Saudi Arabia’s six-year journey toward digital leadership, apart from being an appealing location for global technology businesses seeking size, security, and long-term partnership in the region.

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In response to national security concerns, the previous Joe Biden administration imposed a cap on the export of American AI components to numerous foreign markets. Although the Trump administration has not yet changed these restrictions, Microsoft has cautioned the current President that doing so could give China a “strategic advantage” in promoting its own artificial intelligence technology since emerging markets will be compelled to turn away from the states for cutting-edge technologies.

The tech giant claimed that the restrictions also had an impact on American allies like Taiwan, South Korea, India, and Switzerland. In addition to placing these allies in a “Tier Two category,” the export restrictions “go beyond what’s needed” and place quantitative restrictions on American tech companies’ capacity to establish and grow AI data centres in their nations.

“The unintended consequence of this approach is to encourage Tier Two countries to look elsewhere for AI infrastructure and services. And it’s obvious where they will be forced to turn. If left unchanged, the Diffusion Rule will become a gift to China’s rapidly expanding AI sector,” Microsoft noted in its statement.

The United States and China are involved in a “chip war,” with China claiming that American chips are dangerous and advising businesses to use their own semiconductors. Both countries are vying to create and manufacture powerful chips in their own countries.

Microsoft announced plans to invest USD 80 billion in artificial intelligence data centres earlier in 2025, with a significant portion of this budget going toward export power. Along with pledging more than USD 35 billion in investments across 14 nations in 2024 to develop AI and data centre infrastructure, Microsoft has reaffirmed that the United States must work with “allies and friends” to stay at the top.

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Justin Hotard has worked in the global technology industry for more than 25 years. His most recent position was as head of Intel’s Data Centre and AI Group. He has also held executive roles at NCR Corporation and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

The Nokia Board of Directors has expressed confidence in Justin Hotard’s leadership skills and strategic vision, which they believe align with the company’s focus on growth and value creation in the data centre and artificial intelligence (AI) markets.

Lundmark stated that the time seemed appropriate for a changeover and took pride in the team’s achievements under his direction. He intends to step down on March 31, 2025, and pursue a different line of work, possibly as a board professional.

To ensure a smooth transition, he will remain as Justin Hotard’s advisor through the end of the year. Along with the announcement, further details regarding the leadership transition were shared at a recent event for media and financial analysts.

Nokia is repositioning itself to seize new opportunities in the technology sector and is continuously evolving its business strategy to optimise growth potential during this leadership change.

Who Is Justin Hotard?

Justin Hotard has worked for major tech companies like Santa Clara and Intel during his more than 25 years in the field.

“I am eager to get started and look forward to continuing Nokia’s transformation journey to maximise its potential for growth and value creation,” the new CEO stated in a video message.

Additionally, Justin Hotard stated that he would support the company’s efforts to integrate artificial intelligence into its operations and “establish Nokia as a global leader in connectivity in the AI era.”

At present, he serves as the general manager and executive vice president of the Data Centre and AI Group.

Before his position at Intel, he worked for Hewlett Packard Enterprise and NCR Corporation. While at NCR Corporation, an IT company based in Atlanta, Justin Hotard closed several deals and made significant investments in the company.

In a single year, he completed five acquisitions totalling USD 72 million, expanding the business into markets adjacent to its self-serve offerings.

Justin Hotard graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and earned an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management in Cambridge.

Nokia is seeking to streamline its operations and grow its business to offset slower growth from mobile operators. Like other telecom equipment manufacturers, the company is facing a decline in 5G gear sales and is exploring new markets while expanding into emerging sectors like AI.

Sari Baldauf, the chair of Nokia’s board of directors, stated that Justin Hotard’s experience in the AI and data centre markets will be crucial for Nokia’s future growth prospects.

According to sources cited by Bloomberg, the company is considering the future of its mobile network business and may contemplate spinning off, selling all or part of the division, or merging with a competitor.

In 2024, Nokia announced a USD 2.3 billion deal to acquire US optical networking firm Infinera, aiming to capitalise on the growing AI-driven data centre investments.

On February 10, 2025, Nokia’s shares rose 1.6% to 4.7 euros on Helsinki’s stock exchange, outpacing the market’s 0.45% gain. The company’s shares have risen 27.85% in 2024, though they remain over 90% below their June 2000 peak.

Nokia’s infrastructure division, which incorporates AI, specialises in communication systems, including data centres, servers, and routers.

Meanwhile, Nokia’s mobile networks unit focuses on mobile communication technologies, managing cell towers and advancing 5G services.

Image Credits: intc.com

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To deliver cloud solutions, Internet of Things (IoT), and digital transformation for regional and global markets, especially in Africa and the Middle East, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) marks the first strategic collaboration between the two businesses.

There are two phases to the development of the 80,000-square-metre Kemet Data Centre. For companies seeking more affordable, scalable cloud solutions, quicker data processing, and reduced latency, all necessary elements for enhancing user experience and boosting productivity, it will offer vital infrastructure.

The centre is the perfect platform for businesses looking for safe and effective cloud-based operations because of its advantageous location in Egypt and state-of-the-art digital infrastructure. The facility will use solar energy as part of its sustainability initiative, lowering its carbon footprint while providing state-of-the-art services.

“This strategic collaboration with Intro Technology marks a significant milestone for Oman Data Park as we expand our presence in the region. The Kemet Data Centre will not only enhance our capability to serve the growing demand for digital transformation but will also contribute to the economic development of the Middle East,” Engineer Maqbool Al Wahaibi, CEO of Oman Data Park said, as reported by Zawya.

“We are proud to bring our expertise in cloud services and data centre management to this project and look forward to creating innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of businesses globally,” the senior official added.

Oman Data Park is contributing commercial services to the project, managing the centre’s daily operations, supervising the design, and offering advice on construction.

This partnership demonstrates ODP’s continued efforts to assist the area’s economic development and digital transformation, enhancing the company’s standing as a major participant in the cloud services and technology industries.

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As part of its continuous effort to feed its insatiable demand for power, Amazon said in January 2024 that it had reached an agreement to claim more than half of the site’s 880 megawatts of output. The greatest corporations in the world are racing to construct the infrastructure required for artificial intelligence (AI), and even isolated wind farms in Scotland are becoming essential.

In Europe in 2023, $79.4 million was spent on new data centre projects, according to research firm Global Data. There are indications that demand is increasing even in 2024. Microsoft has revealed about betting $3.2 billion on data centres in Sweden. The business also said that it would treble the amount of space it had for data centres in Germany and that it would invest $4.3 billion in AI data centres in France.

As part of an $8.5 billion investment in Germany, Amazon unveiled a network of data centres in Brandenburg state. Later, the company committed an additional $17.1 billion to Spain. To spur the development of AI, Google announced that it would invest $1.1 billion in its Finnish data centre.

There’s a panic behind the scenes about how to fuel the massive data centres that the big companies are racing to create. It is the goal of logistics-heavy Amazon to reach net zero by 2040, while Microsoft, Meta, and Google want to reach net zero by 2030. Over the last ten years, several corporations have acquired contracts for renewable energy from the solar or wind industries to achieve that goal. However, as the need for clean energy rises, power grids, the foundation of all these projects, are breaking. This puts pressure on the big IT companies to plan for their energy-intensive futures and explore ways to run their off-grid power empires independently of the system.

According to Colm Shorten, senior director of data centre strategy at real estate services company JLL, “There is a recognition that the industry will have to find alternative energy sources as power demand increases, while adding that server farms are increasingly searching for “behind-the-wire” power supplies, such as gas/diesel generators, or more cutting-edge technology like green hydrogen.”

In essence, grid operators are saying the same thing. Two years ago, Eirgrid, the state-owned energy provider in Ireland, put an effective ban on data centres located in Dublin, citing grid issues. The Dutch Data Centre Association, a business association, retaliated against the mayor of Amsterdam’s introduction of a similar pause. In a statement, it stated that “the existing grid congestion in North Holland is hindering the growth of the data centre sector.”

Data centres are moving into more noticeable parts of Europe in their quest for grid space, and when they do, they run the danger of encountering resistance from the smaller villages.

According to Simon Hinterholzer, a researcher at the German Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability, that trend is already evident in Germany.

“Frankfurt used to be the site of most new data centre construction. In the past two or three years, this has entirely changed,” he claimed, while citing the construction of a 300-kilowatt data centre in Wustermark, a small town, and the most recent investment made by Amazon in Brandenburg, a neighbourhood that borders Berlin, and saw the installation of more than 70 turbines in 2023.

The long-term survival of data centres outside the grid is becoming more and more necessary.

“The scope of AI projects is expanding exponentially, with the potential to reach 1 gigawatt of power that is not attainable through traditional power grids,” states Ricardo Abad, the founder of Quark, a data centre that is developing a new location in Spain with an undisclosed partner that will have on-site solar and wind power for self-generation.

Although these kinds of on-site projects can function independently, they are theoretically still linked to the grid in case they wish to export extra electricity.

Amazon unveiled its largest-ever on-site solar farm, covering the roof and parking lot of its fulfilment centre in Seville, Spain, the same year Dublin placed restrictions on data centres. For its upcoming server farms, Google’s head of data centre location strategy in Europe has also shown interest in on-site renewable energy sources. Both Microsoft and Meta denied managing any fully off-grid initiatives. However, Microsoft is constructing a data centre in Dublin in addition to its gas backup plant, so even if the grid operator switches it off, the website will continue to function.

Big Tech is looking for renewable energy ideas. According to Kilian Wagner, a specialist in sustainable digital infrastructures at the German digital association Bitkom, “Technology like enhanced nuclear reactors, renewable energy sources, and energy storage systems will be important in making this possible in the future.”

As an investor in Helion Energy, an American nuclear fusion firm, OpenAI boss Sam Altman has also committed to supply Microsoft with 50 megawatts of electricity from its first operational fusion nuclear plant. Microsoft has been experimenting with hydrogen fuel cells in the United States and is promoting them as an emission-free backup power source.

It’s unclear what the rest of us would lose out on if server farms went off-grid. Big Tech companies may find success going it alone in their quest for the sustainable energy source of the future. The grid is their only option till they figure it out.

AI and its energy thirst

There may be a substantial energy cost associated with using AI for some tasks. Journalist Melissa Heikkilä detailed in an article from December 2023 that some sophisticated AI models can use as much energy to generate an image as it does to charge your phone.

According to the researchers Melissa spoke with, producing 1,000 photos with a device like Stable Diffusion XL produces as much carbon dioxide as driving slightly more than four miles in a gas-powered automobile.

Although created visuals are visually striking, many AI jobs consume less energy. For instance, producing graphics requires thousands of times more energy than producing text. Additionally, it can be dozens of times more economical to use a smaller, task-specific model rather than a large, general-purpose generative model. Either way, we use generative AI models a lot, and they consume energy.

By 2026, data centre, artificial intelligence, and cryptocurrency electricity demand may quadruple from 2022 levels, the International Energy Agency projects. In 2022, those technologies will account for about 2% of the world’s total electricity consumption. Be aware that these figures don’t only apply to AI; it can be challenging to pinpoint AI’s precise impact. With that in mind, keep in mind projections regarding data centre electricity consumption.

The IEA’s forecasts are subject to a wide range of uncertainty, based on factors like the rate at which deployment rises and the efficiency of computational operations. At the low end, the industry might need an extra 160 terawatt-hours of electricity by 2026. That figure could be as high as 590 TWh.

According to the analysis, the combined effects of Bitcoin, data centres, and AI are probably going to increase world electricity demand by “at least one Sweden or at most one Germany.”

The IEA estimates that during that same period, global electricity demand will increase by almost 3,500 TWh. While computing plays a significant role in the shortage of electricity, it is by no means the entire story. The need for power will rise more from the industrial sector and electric vehicles than from data centres in the EU, for example.

However, a few major tech firms are speculating that AI might interfere with their efforts to combat climate change. Microsoft committed to achieving zero or even lower greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade four years ago.

However, the company’s most recent sustainability report reveals that emissions are continuing to rise, with some executives blaming artificial intelligence for this. 2020 saw the release of our carbon moonshot. That was before the artificial intelligence explosion, Microsoft President Brad Smith said to Bloomberg Green.

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It is reported that there are 643 technology hubs on the continent, with significant numbers spotted in Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa. That said, 41 percent of the technology hubs are incubator facilities, while 24 percent of them are innovation hubs and 14 percent of them are accelerators. These hubs are collectively considered pivotal to the continent’s technology business. 

According to a research carried out by Briter Bridges and AfriLabs, Nigeria has the highest ratio of hubs pointing to 90. Meanwhile, South Africa followed second with 78, Egypt with 56 and Kenya with 50 across the 34 countries that the study covered. The research report titled Building a Conducive Setting for Innovators to Thrive observed that the majority of survey hubs on the continent have received funding that is less than $100,000. Shockingly, 62 percent of the hubs have below 10 paid employees. 

A re-discovered learning is that underutilisation of talent will not foster technology growth. Ibrahim Youssry, the general manager of Microsoft Middle East & Africa Emerging Markets, told International Finance, “According to the African Development Bank, 12 million young Africans enter the workforce each year. This means the continent could have a larger pool of Information Technology talent by 2035 than the United States, China and India combined.” The continent is witnessing a revolution in new cloud and data centre capacity, with a growth forecast of 80 percent and 50 percent, but there are constraints that need to be removed. 

Microsoft plays a big role in Africa’s cloud

This is profound news. Microsoft, for example, is observed to be spending more than $100 million on a cloud development centre which will employ 500 staff in the next five years. Currently, it has a data centre in Cape Town and Johannesburg. “Since Microsoft first opened its offices in Africa, we have witnessed incredible growth on the continent—more internet connectivity, more digital capability, and more innovation. Africans have expanded the applications of technology, changing the way communities bank, farm and even access healthcare,” Youssry explained. 

The establishment of cloud data centres have positioned Microsoft as the first public cloud provider offering cloud services on the continent. “Therefore, we see an increasing number of technology companies like Microsoft investing in local data centre infrastructure. We were the first global provider to deliver cloud services from data centres on the continent with the launch of two new enterprise-grade data centre regions in Africa, based in Cape Town and Johannesburg in 2019. Also, in 2019, Microsoft launched Edge Nodes in Kenya, Nigeria and Egypt to bring its customers a faster network and enhanced access to cloud services,” he said. 

“The continent’s growing demand for cloud services is driving ever-increasing opportunity for digital transformation in the market. Even before Covid-19, organisations across Africa were embracing the potential of cloud to engage their customers more effectively and optimise operations,” Youssry explained. “Already, the use of cloud among medium and large organisations was near pervasive.” It is worth noting that Microsoft has been investing in Africa since 2013. The 4Afrika initiative, for instance, was pivotal as it opened doors for the company to closely work with governments, partners, startups and young entrepreneurs to develop greater access to the internet and promote relevant technologies on the continent.  “Investing in digital transformation to help boost the region’s economic development is more important than ever and cloud is a key factor in enabling that transformation.” 

For Africa, the trend in promoting new technologies is evolving. But there is a stubborn challenge. A report states that ‘a multitude of dictatorships’ in various countries like Sudan, Zimbabwe and Chad among others that face Internet shutdowns is making predictions on investment returns quite difficult for companies. But Youssry remains optimistic about the continent’s technology potential. “While there was great optimism at the start of the decade with bold ambitions for growth and success, the pandemic has challenged African organisations and governments. But technology offers a real opportunity for the continent to recover and reimagine the future.”

MARI is making a difference

Microsoft is even expanding its footprint to reach new African regions. It is seeking to build up presence in Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, while Angola is on its radar. In the big picture, the cloud service delivered by Microsoft on the continent will help local companies to move their businesses to the cloud in a secure manner. “At Microsoft, we are very fortunate to have played a part in realising this potential, building strong partnerships to accelerate digital transformation and create sustained societal impact,” Youssry said. “A big milestone for this investment came last year with the launch of our first Africa Development Centre (ADC). The two sites in Nairobi, Kenya and Lagos, Nigeria serve as a premier centre of engineering for Microsoft, where world-class African talent can create solutions for local and global impact.”

For that reason, Microsoft created the new Microsoft Africa Research Institute (MARI) in Kenya, which will be co-located with the Africa Development Centre. The research institute will focus on foundational research to improve productivity in three prime areas: work, health and society. First: Several organisations in Kenya are using technology to create new organisational structures which will enable creation of new artificial intelligence and  machine learning solutions on a global scale. Second: The institute will explore how artificial intelligence-enhanced mobile technology can improve the effectiveness of healthcare interventions. Third: The institute will present itself as an ideal platform for addressing some of the biggest societal challenges. It will even demonstrate how analytics can be used to improve work on the ground and address problems globally. The mission of the institute is to ‘understand, build and deploy cloud and artificial intelligence technologies’ on the continent. What is interesting about the institute is that it not only seeks to draw the essence of the continental opportunities, but also to address local challenges to build the technology of the future. 

In 2019, 17 African countries presented their progress on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals at the United Nations. Although the progress was identifiable, it required radical interventions to achieve those ambitious goals. The answer to that was already clear: cloud computing. Several American companies have been in action for building their cloud services on the continent. There are four fundamental pillars that need to be in place for cloud computing to add value to the continent’s development. These pillars are skills development, policy and safeguards that ensure privacy and security of all data and infrastructure that provides reliable and affordable access to the Internet.

According to Youssry, the growth of cloud computing has been greatly assisted by the rising number of undersea cables connecting the continent to the rest of the world. In an example, Google launched its Project Link initiative which is essentially building links between undersea cables, ISPs  and mobile networks. The company’s first metro fibre network was rolled in Kampala in 2015 and expanded into Ghana, where it plans to build over 1,000 kilometres of fibre in Accra, Tema and Kumasi. The initiative has also evolved in the CSquared business and Google has committed an additional $100 million to boost its expansion into the African continent. 

Is data colonisation rampant? 

But the heart of the issue here is the fear of data colonisation for African countries, and their subsequent efforts in implementing laws that might dwarf growth.  Although the growth of big technology companies is a boon to the economy—extraction, monopolisation and monetisation are forming the crux of data colonisation. For what it is worth, this is a prevalent problem beyond Africa. According to the United Nations for Trade and Conference, there are pronounced gaps in cyber law adoption that are leaving consumers vulnerable to global crises, such as the coronavirus pandemic. 

The organisation found that only 66 percent of the countries of the world protect consumer data privacy. This is despite an estimated fact that there would be a 11 percentage point increase in adoption of data protection and privacy legislation between 2015 and 2020. This finding simply highlights how vulnerable Africa is amid the pandemic, especially in comparison to its European counterparts. To make the difference more obvious, 96 percent of European countries have data protection laws in place—and then the number drops to only 50 percent of countries in Africa. 

The continent is technologically diverse yet nascent in its own way. Although it trails the developed part of the world in digital penetration and capabilities, it still offers vast datasets for big technology companies. But the relative lack of data protection policies and restricted understanding of how valuable data is—is the trigger for data colonisation. Because data is a valuable commodity and deserves full protection—African policymakers must proactively develop a pan-African strategy for cross-border data flows. 

Contrasting theories on data localisation

For the uninitiated, cross-border data flows are crucial to ensure secure provision of mobile money-enabled remittance services that cannot be compromised. According to a report published by GSMA, data localisation requirements can directly impact the ability of emerging markets to capture the full potential of mobile money to reduce remittance cost—which has become a cause for concern for mobile and digital players. The regime usually involves: Data storage requirements and data processing requirements. By definition, data storage requirements point to certain datasets, such as government data and personal data of national citizens, which are hosted in data centres in the national territory. On the other hand, data procession requirements point to activities related to data entry, manipulation and processing. In this case, management takes place domestically. 

There are mixed views about data localisation laws. One school of thought is that these laws can result in: Improved data security; robust privacy protection for citizens’ personal data; easy access to data and control; and creation of local jobs for establishing data centres. The second school of thought is that data localisation laws will sever access to cloud services, which in turn can potentially dwarf technology growth, because cloud is becoming the lifeblood of African economy—and is absolutely essential for it to flourish in the fourth industrial revolution. For that reason, governments should enable companies to access the cloud without restrictions in accordance with global standards. The positive effects of that will lead to an increase in international investment, stimulate growth of local technology companies and build resistance to cyber attacks at large. 

Does the law dwarf economic modernisation?

Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa have vouched for data localisation. These laws might have been in response to the growing concerns of African governments, but they have come at a cost. Take Nigeria, for example, where the data localisation framework specifically underlines its ‘clear negative trade balance’ in the Information Technology sector. Although few governments are investing efforts to control data colonisation on the continent—there are real concerns stemming from those efforts for policymakers. For one, there is very little evidence to prove that data localisation has led to outcomes in line with the first school of thought.  

Even in the economic aspect of things, the benefits of data localisation is only observed for some local companies that own data centres and have fewer employees. More importantly, what it seems occurred is that these laws have not led to an increase in foreign direct investment from big technology companies that are seeking to establish their infrastructure on the continent. In hindsight, data localisation laws are more of a trade barrier, making cloud computing burdensome and hindering economic modernisation. 

Policymakers in action 

To combat these problems, African policymakers can consider the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation as a benchmark for building a framework that fits with the current circumstances and capabilities through public-private cooperation. In this context,  Youssry said “Microsoft has long standing commitments to privacy and with the understanding that our customer data belongs to them, we have regularly taken steps to give customers more information and more choice, including being the first large company to voluntarily extend strong privacy protections offered under the GDPR to customers from around the world.” 

Already, the continent is found to have transformed itself during the pandemic and it will  continue to see results if the regulations are favourable. “Covid-19 pandemic had an unprecedented effect on digitisation. We saw two years’ worth of digital transformation in the first two months of the pandemic—and Africa has been no exception,” Youssry explained. “From the outset, business leaders have viewed technology as key to overcoming challenges posed by Covid-19 and helping them thrive in a post-pandemic world. According to PwC, 80 percent of African CEOs cite operational efficiency as a key growth driver. A further 62 percent want to accelerate automation in the workplace post-pandemic”

To achieve that, companies will need to embrace the cloud, which is ‘foundational to digital transformation’. Youssry pointed out that The Cloud in Africa 2020 report shows that companies in sub-Saharan Africa are already increasingly leveraging cloud technologies to drive digital transformation. More than half of all respondents to the survey believed that over a quarter of their applications will have moved to the cloud by the end of next year. So what is really needed is a comprehensive data flows framework that will allow local startups and big technology companies to scale across the continent. After all, the Internet of Things and data-driven insights are important for the continent to thrive in the fourth industrial revolution.

The post An interactive view of cloud computing in Africa appeared first on International Finance.

The move by Huawei is anticipated to strengthen its cloud and AI platform capabilities in South America. Jason Jin, president of Huawei Cloud & AI in Chile, told the media, “We are very happy to be launching our second data centre in the country,” said Jason Jin, president of Huawei Cloud & AI in Chile. This will bring many benefits to our users. It will help to provide greater security in case of a catastrophe and also allow Chile to prepare for the technological challenges to come in the future.” 

Last June, Huawei had announced its plans to establish a second data centre in Chile. With that it seeks to provide a localised, low-latency cloud service for the country and its Latin American peers at large. 

Currently, Chile is working on a transoceanic cable project in collaboration with Japan. The latter has proposed a cable route designating Australia and New Zealand as endpoints for the project superseding China’s plan. 

Although it was anticipated that Chile is mired in a geopolitical crossfire between Japan and China on the back of the transoceanic cable project, Huawei’s new data centre only implies that the country is in a good position globally.

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