G42 will lead the first investment steps by building the required facility in the Kenyan city of Olkaria, in cooperation with Microsoft.
“Company cooperates “Microsoft” with “G42“It is the largest Emirati company for artificial intelligence, to build a data center powered by electricity generated from geothermal energy in Kenya, where the value of the project will reach one billion dollars, and constitutes the initial nucleus for implementing a large plan aimed at increasing cloud computing capacity in East Africa over the years, as stated. Bloomberg Agency.
G42 will lead the first investment steps by building the required facility in the city of Olkaria, which has abundant geothermal resources. This energy is a great advantage in the continent of Africa, which suffers from frequent power outages, and can also support Microsoft’s efforts to achieve its climate goals. The capacity of the first phase of the project will be 100 megawatts, and it is expected to be operational within approximately two years from now.
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After its completion, the center will need only approximately one gigawatt of electricity coming through the networks, as Ping Xiao, CEO of G42, said in an interview. The companies did not mention the period it would take to complete the project in all its stages or its expected cost.
Microsoft will use the initial cloud computing power to create an East Africa region for its Azure products, enhancing the company’s ability to sell its services there. Currently, Microsoft’s closest data center for Kenyan customers is thousands of miles away in South Africa. As part of the deal, the Kenyan government agreed to move more of its services to the cloud, which Microsoft hopes will fuel overall demand. Eventually, the data center complex will handle AI services and could provide cloud computing to neighboring countries such as Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.
