Teraco, Africa’s premier data centre operator, has successfully completed the expansion of its JB4 hyperscale facility located in Johannesburg, South Africa. This milestone firmly establishes JB4 as the largest standalone data centre on the continent, underscoring Teraco’s pivotal role in shaping Africa’s digital infrastructure landscape.
The expansion follows a significant capital injection of $680 million, secured in February 2023 through a funding round led by Absa, one of South Africa’s leading financial institutions. This strategic investment has enabled Teraco to scale its operations to meet the surging demand for high-performance computing and cloud services across the region.
Key Features of the JB4 Expansion
- Increased Capacity: The latest development adds 30 megawatts (MW) of critical IT power, bringing JB4’s total capacity to 50 MW.
- Massive Scale: The facility now spans 80,000 square meters, housing 14 data halls, including six newly constructed 5 MW halls tailored for hyperscale deployments and AI-intensive workloads.
- Sustainability Focus: JB4 incorporates a zero-water, closed-loop chilled water cooling system, a crucial innovation in South Africa’s water-scarce environment. Additionally, AI-driven cooling optimization enhances energy efficiency and contributes to a competitive Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) score.
Strategic Importance of Johannesburg
Johannesburg has emerged as a key hub for digital infrastructure in Africa, thanks to its robust fibre optic networks, proximity to major submarine cable systems such as Equiano and 2Africa, and a dense concentration of enterprise clients. These factors make it an ideal location for hyperscale data centres and cloud service providers.
Africa’s data centre market has experienced exponential growth over the past five years, fueled by:
- Accelerated cloud adoption
- Expansion of fintech ecosystems
- Rising demand for AI and big data analytics
- Increasing internet penetration across the continent
Teraco’s JB4 facility is designed to support this growth, offering scalable infrastructure for global cloud platforms, content delivery networks, and financial services.
With the completion of JB4’s expansion, Teraco’s total critical IT load across all campuses now exceeds 189 MW. The company operates additional facilities in Cape Town, Durban, Bredell, and Isando, making it one of the most significant players in Africa’s data infrastructure sector.
As Africa’s digital transformation accelerates, Teraco’s strategic investments position it to meet the next wave of demand driven by AI processing, latency-sensitive applications, and data sovereignty requirements. JB4’s scale, advanced design, and strategic location give Teraco a distinct competitive edge in powering Africa’s connected future.
