MTN in Talks With US, European Partners to Build AI Data Centres
TLDR
- MTN Group Ltd., Africa’s largest wireless carrier, is in advanced talks with US and European firms to build data centres across the continent to power artificial intelligence services
- The Johannesburg-based company will partly finance the projects and bring in global partners to expand AI-ready infrastructure, CEO Ralph Mupita said
- MTN has already broken ground on a 9MW data centre in Nigeria, expected to cost about $240 million
MTN Group Ltd., Africa’s largest wireless carrier, is in advanced talks with US and European firms to build data centres across the continent to power artificial intelligence services.
The Johannesburg-based company will partly finance the projects and bring in global partners to expand AI-ready infrastructure, CEO Ralph Mupita said. MTN has already broken ground on a 9MW data centre in Nigeria, expected to cost about $240 million.
Its AI data centre business, branded Genova, will host tenants providing compute power and rent out capacity to businesses and governments. MTN may also equip some centres with its own hardware.
“We are now in the commercial negotiation phase and shortlisting partners who can help us scale,” Mupita said. “Our goal is to conclude these partnerships within the year.”
Partners joining Genova are expected to follow MTN into its 16 African markets.
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Key Takeaways
Africa accounts for less than 1% of global AI data centre capacity, underscoring a gap in digital infrastructure as demand for machine learning and cloud services surges worldwide. Most existing capacity is concentrated in South Africa, where Microsoft, Amazon, and Alibaba already operate hyperscale facilities. Momentum is now spreading to other countries: Microsoft and Abu Dhabi’s G42 plan a geothermal-powered data centre in Kenya, while Airtel Africa is preparing to expand Nigeria’s AI infrastructure through its Nxtra unit. For telecoms, data centres are an increasingly important revenue stream as mobile growth slows. MTN’s Genova strategy aims to monetise its infrastructure and diversify income by capturing enterprise and government demand for AI compute. If successful, it could anchor Africa’s AI ecosystem in markets where local capacity is limited but populations and data generation are expanding rapidly, positioning MTN as a key player in the continent’s digital economy.
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