MTN Group has struck a partnership with Dubai-based investor Tarek Al Ashram to build 150 megawatts of AI-ready data centre capacity in Africa. The deal is one of the boldest bets yet on closing the continent’s artificial intelligence infrastructure gap.
Africa’s largest mobile operator confirmed the plan through a new venture called Africa Data Hub Holding Limited. This company will develop and scale digital infrastructure across key African markets. It will start with South Africa and Nigeria.
Al Ashram founded Gulf Data Hub, a UAE-based data centre firm backed by global investment giant KKR. He will use his own investment firm to fund the new venture. However, MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita said the telecom giant will hold only a minority stake in the partnership.
“For data centres, our approach is to partner with third parties with the necessary skills and capabilities,” Mupita told a media roundtable this week. He added that MTN and its partner are targeting 150MW for the first phase. More capacity will follow as demand grows.
MTN first flagged the 150MW target at its capital markets day in June. Back then, the company said it wanted to lift greenfield data centre capacity from 80MW to 150MW by 2030. That goal now has a named partner and a clearer path to execution.
In Nigeria, the expansion builds on MTN’s existing digital footprint. This includes the first phase of the Sifiso Dabengwa Data Centre in Lagos. The facility already handles landing capabilities for major subsea cables. It also supports a growing base of fintech and cloud customers. Meanwhile in South Africa, the buildout adds to core infrastructure like MTN’s Centurion complex in Gauteng.
The new facilities will differ sharply from MTN’s older data centres. Traditional cloud infrastructure typically supports power densities of 5kW to 10kW per server rack. But AI workloads need far more power. Large language model inference and high-performance computing often demand 30kW to over 100kW per rack. This extra power runs the graphics processing units behind modern AI systems.
So how will MTN manage the heat these systems generate? Africa Data Hub Holding plans to install liquid-to-chip cooling and direct-to-chip heat exchange systems. Engineers say this approach will keep the facilities running efficiently even in the high temperatures common across parts of West Africa.
MTN is also linking the new data hubs to its Distributed Compute Grid. This edge computing initiative converts cell towers and base stations into local compute nodes. As a result, MTN can process AI inference tasks closer to where data is generated. This cuts latency and eases pressure on centralised facilities.
Bayobab, MTN’s digital connectivity business, is also a shareholder in the new venture. It will provide open access connectivity and go to market support. Therefore, customers should be able to reach the new infrastructure across multiple African markets through Bayobab’s existing pan-African network.
Mazen Mroué, CEO of MTN Group Digital Infrastructure, called the partnership a major step in executing the group’s digital infrastructure strategy. He said it brings investment, infrastructure expertise, connectivity and market access together on one platform. That platform, he added, will serve hyperscalers, cloud providers, enterprises and technology innovators across Africa.
Al Ashram struck a similar tone. He pointed to what world-class data centre infrastructure has done for the Middle East’s cloud and AI sectors in recent years. According to him, Africa now presents a similar opportunity. He cited strong demand, fast-growing digital economies and a pressing need for resilient infrastructure.
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The push comes at a critical moment for Africa’s AI ambitions. The continent holds less than one percent of global AI data centre capacity. Yet it has the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population. Most of the existing capacity sits in South Africa, where Microsoft, Amazon and Alibaba already run cloud services.
Without enough local infrastructure, African governments and businesses risk staying dependent on data centres abroad to run AI applications. This gap could slow adoption and raise costs across the region. So MTN’s partnership with Al Ashram is just one of several moves the company is making to close that gap. MTN has also held talks with American and European technology firms about further data centre expansion. In addition, it has invested in ODC, a startup building AI-native radio access network and edge intelligence platforms.
The partnership forms part of MTN’s Ambition 2030 strategy. This plan aims to shift the group from a traditional telecom operator into a digital platform and infrastructure business. Under that plan, data centres now sit alongside connectivity and fintech as core growth areas.
So far, neither MTN nor Al Ashram has disclosed the total investment size for the 150MW project. Nor have they given a firm timeline for completion. Still, both companies say they will add further capacity as demand across the continent continues to grow.
