Deal Signed For New Kenya Data Centre Campus
IXAfrica signed deal to purchase 11 acres of land for 2nd campus in Nairobi.
Kenya-headquartered IXAfrica Data Centre Limited and local real estate developer Tilisi Developments have signed a deal that will facilitate the construction of IXAfrica’s new data centre campus in Nairobi.
The agreement on 15 August involved IXAfrica signing a term sheet to purchase 11 acres of land in the Tilisi development for the construction of the facility.
Due diligence is currently under way to determine the capacity of the proposed data centre, with initial estimates indicating a 30MW+ facility.
Located 30 kilometres from the central business district of Nairobi, Tilisi is a 400-acre mixed-use development of which more than 50% has been sold and is under development. The area includes industrial parks, commercial spaces and residential developments, and offers infrastructure benefits ranging from main arterial road connections to a growing number of fibre-optic networks.
IXAfrica says that the Tilisi site’s geographical features are optimal for its new centre. “[The] secondary site at Tilisi Developments, situated at an elevation of 2,286 metres [and] boasting temperatures of 15 degrees Centigrade and below, presents a game-changing paradigm for data centre cooling and cost efficiency,” says the firm.
“By capitalising on natural climate advantages, we will not only reduce our ecological footprint but also demonstrate unparalleled forward-thinking in optimising operational costs.”
“With Tilisi’s industrial parks, high-quality development, reliable power and water supply, fresh air, and advantageous altitude for free cooling, this new campus will provide an ideal environment for our data centre operations,” said Guy Willner, chairman of IXAfrica, at the signing.
The new data centre campus is expected to cater to the increasing demand for cloud computing services, digital transformation, and edge computing applications in the East Africa region.
IXAfrica is already building an 18.9MW data centre campus on a 4.3-acre site in Nairobi, completion of which is targeted for 2024. It is billed to be East Africa’s largest hypercloud campus.
“With latency sub-5ms [milliseconds] between the two campuses, the distance satisfies the maximal and minimal requirements for hyperscale deployments,” said Willner.
The Kenyan data centre market grew from about US$30 million in 2017 to about US$50 million in 2022, and is forecast to grow to US$130 million by 2027, owing to the improvement in network connectivity, government support, and rapid growth in the adoption of big data and Internet of Things services, says a report titled ‘Kenya Data Center Market Outlook to 2027F’ by consultancy Ken Research.
Photo: Data Centre campus (© IXAfrica)
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