Kenya has launched a global appeal for tech investors to build artificial intelligence (AI)-capable data centres in the race to close the growing infrastructure gap.

Special Envoy for Technology to the United Nations, Philip Thigo, has urged global investors to channel capital into artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, warning that Kenya risks missing out on the next phase of the digital world.

Data centres are the main infrastructure powering AI by providing the high computing power, specialised computer hardware and the large storage needed to train and deploy complex language models.

Mr Thigo told investors and technology firms at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, that African economies will struggle deploy AI to solve local challenges without substantial investment in computing infrastructure.

Kenya has only two AI-capable data centres against South Africa’s five and Nigeria’s one, according to Data Centre Map, a global data centre directory.

Read: Kenya lags behind South Africa in AI-able data centres

While AI promises to be a powerful tool in boosting productivity, Africa is being left behind because it lacks the digital infrastructure, including connectivity in the form of fast fibre-optic broadband.

The lack of connectivity is compounded by a shortage of the heavy-duty data centres needed to crunch the masses of data required to train large language models and run the AI-powered applications that could boost Africa’s economic growth.

These days, much of the content and processing needed to keep websites and programmes running is held in the cloud, which is made up of thousands of processors in physical data centres. Yet Africa has far fewer of these than any other major continent.

Fifteen of Kenya’s 19 data centres, mostly light-duty, are located in Nairobi.

“For African countries to be able to utilise AI at levels where they are solving context-specific local problems, we need a lot of investment, especially in data centres and heavy infrastructure,” said Mr Thigo on Monday.

“It starts with connectivity.”

Data centres are costly, with some estimates placing the construction costs at over $10 million (Sh1.2 billion) and rising to over $20 million (Sh2.4 billion) per megawatt (MW) for AI-optimised facilities.

Across Africa, South Africa leads the continent with 60 data centres, followed by Nigeria with 22 and Kenya with 19, yet only a handful are equipped for AI workloads, according to the Data Centre Map.

Globally, more than 10,000 data centres exist across 174 countries, with the United States hosting nearly 40 percent, underlining how infrastructure concentration shapes the global AI economy. The United States is home to the top AI firms such as OpenAI, Anthropic and the chip manufacturer Nvidia.

Mr Thigo said Africa currently accounts for less than one percent of global AI computing capacity, investment and frontier model innovation, warning that the “real AI divide” is about access to compute and data rather than apps.

“The paradox is that while we are seeing the fastest technological advances in history, inequality is widening,” he said.

Shortage of heavy-duty data centres and fibre-optic connectivity forces African companies to rely on overseas cloud regions, raising costs and limiting local innovation. Without domestic computing capacity, the continent risks becoming primarily an importer of AI services rather than a producer.

Mr Thigo argued that infrastructure investment would enable developers to build AI tools tailored to local languages, agriculture, healthcare and education needs, making the technology more relevant to African economies.

Technology vendors are already exploring opportunities. The envoy cited companies such as China’s Huawei that are eyeing African markets.

Kenya has positioned itself as a regional technology hub. However, analysts say sustained investment in data centres, fibre networks and a reliable power grid will be critical if the country is to attract AI developers and global cloud providers.

→ dmusau@ke.nationmedia.com

Follow our WhatsApp channel for the latest business and markets updates.