Africa Data Centres Expands South African Footprint with New 20MW Facility in Cape Town

Africa Data Centres is building a second data centre in Cape Town, South Africa. The new 20MW facility will cover 15,000 square meters in eight data halls and is situated on the northern periphery of Cape Town city centre.

According to Tesh Durvasula, Chief Executive Officer of Africa Data Centres, there is a clear pipeline of demand for colocation space that cannot be served by the existing Diep River data centre. “The new Cape Town facility is a critical part of Africa Data Centres expansion drive in the area”.

The site is located in a secure business park that is well served by two major national roads, the N7 and M12 and is close to Cape Town’s city centre, the V&A Waterfront harbour, Cape Town International Airport, and is within easy reach of Africa Data Centres’ existing Africa Data Centres’ facility in Diep River.

As volumes of data in South Africa grow, so does the demand for the capacity to store and process it. “This is why Africa Data Centres has such ambitious expansion plans in the region. As Africa’s largest and leading network of interconnected, carrier- and cloud-neutral data centre facilities, we are continually working to provide the infrastructure to help companies achieve their digital goals.”

Several regions are experiencing high data centre demand in Africa, and data centre capacity has more than doubled in the past few years. South Africa is leading the charge and is now brimming with new projects.

Moreover, Durvasula says, “Hyper-scaler cloud providers have been eyeing the region for some time, with Amazon opening its first African cloud data centre in South Africa in April 2020. In addition, Google Cloud recently selected Africa Data Centres as the first location for Google Cloud Interconnect in Africa”.

Cape Town is the number two data centre market in South Africa and currently has a connectivity ecosystem made up of several colocation data centres and a wide range of cloud service providers and networks.

Research estimates that the market for data centres in Africa is expected to reach between US$3 billion and US$5 billion in the next four years, growing at a compound annual growth rate of between 12 and 15%, depending on the report.

South Africa remains the largest data centre market on the continent, with a thriving data centre industry, and has been ranked number 25 globally by Cloudscene based on data centre density.

Over and above bringing digital services to Capetonians, the facility will create a wide range of job opportunities through the provision of digital services and hiring local contractors and workers for the builds, from entry to high-tech level.

The Cape Town building is currently in the initial design phase, with work set to start on site in the last quarter of 2022. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2023.