A growing number of analysts and U.S. officials now see Africa as one of the next major frontiers for AI infrastructure and data-centre development, as power constraints, grid congestion, and stricter environmental rules increasingly slow new projects in the U.S. and Europe. Industry experts argue that Africa’s relatively underdeveloped infrastructure, once seen as a drawback, is becoming an advantage — offering room to build large-scale AI infrastructure without the same regulatory and capacity bottlenecks facing mature markets.
American companies have already secured a string of major deals across the continent this year. In Lesotho, a U.S. firm won a $6.2 billion contract combining a data centre with a hydropower plant to supply it. In Côte d’Ivoire, the U.S. Embassy in Abidjan helped facilitate a $170 million data-centre contract with the Ivorian government, while in Gabon, U.S. diplomatic support helped secure $600 million in business for American firms the previous year.
Separately, Nvidia-backed Cassava Technologies — founded by Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa — is looking to raise up to $700 million to build and expand a network of AI-ready data centres across the continent.Analysts note the shift comes as Washington positions American AI infrastructure as the global standard and pushes to compete with Chinese firms also expanding into African markets, framing data-centre investment as both a commercial and strategic priority.