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Vol 67 No 16

Published 7th August 2026


Data centre boom hits power shortages

The suspension of a flagship Kenyan project underscores the gap between hyperscale ambition and grid capacity across the continent

The dominant factor determining the development of Artificial Intelligence in Africa is not computing power but who controls the inputs: power, minerals and governance. The compute gap between African economies (like those in other developing regions) and China or the United States is a chasm. The continent hosts just 0.6% of global data centre capacity – and only 5% of African business say they have the affordable AI they need.

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