The push for Nairobi to stamp its authority in supporting Africa's innovation ecosystem has received a timely boost with French energy company Schneider Electric launching what it claims to be the first Artificial Intelligence (AI) ready hyperscale data center in Nairobi.

This is the largest such facility in East Africa, an area with a population of over 300 million people.

In a statement, the energy company noted that its new facility, dubbed "NBOX1', is a Tier 3+ carrier-neutral data centre that can support AI applications at industrial scale.

NBOX1 is "the largest and most technologically advanced digital habitat for cloud, colocation, and connectivity in East Africa," noted Schneider Electric in a media update.

Data centres have a variety of uses including the provision of the computational power that is needed for various applications, from basic web hosting to complex data analytics, AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), e-commerce, cloud services, gaming, and machine learning among others.

For example, industrial-scale applications such as Enterprise Resource Planning, Human Resource Management Systems, and Customer Relationship Management systems often run in data centres, to guarantee user reliability and optimal performance.

According to the company, the centre which is located on a 4.3-acre area at IXAfrica Nairobi Campus, will feature 780 racks spread in three data halls, with approximately 4,000 square metres of teleport space all powered by 4.5MW of IT power.

The company noted that the investment with be backed by Schneider Electric's 'EcoStructure for Data Centres' architecture and solutions, which the company says it offers NBOX1 with "resilience, uptime and cost efficiency, enhanced security, and the ability to meet IXAfrica's sustainability objectives." 

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Funding from Helios investment company

According to IXAfrica chief executive Snehar Shah, the Nairobi campus location, "is built on land formerly part of Schenider's complex, and the power engineering for the site was designed by Scheinder's local partners."

Media reports show that IXAfrica Nairobi Campus One has been under construction since 2021, financed by a $50 million funding from investment company Helios. In 2023, IXAfrica announced an agreement with developer Tilisi Developments to purchase 11 acres of land to set up their second data centre in Nairobi.

In the last year, Kenya has continued to be a hub of big tech investors. Earlier this year, UAE-based G42 and Microsoft unveiled an investment plan in liaison with the Ministry of Information, Communication and Digital Economy to the tune of $1 billion.

In the deal, Microsoft and G42, an IA-focused multinational, are exploring investments around setting up a green data centre at geothermal-energy-rich Olkaria in Naivasha. This new facility is poised to provide access to Microsoft Azure in what the companies termed as the East Africa Cloud Region.

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