MTN Group Ltd, Africa’s largest wireless carrier, is in discussions with United States and European firms to expand data center capacity across the continent to power Artificial Intelligence services, chief executive officer Ralph Mupita said in an interview. The company is positioning the initiative as a way to host and supply compute for Artificial Intelligence workloads to enterprises and public-sector customers across Africa, with the group based in Johannesburg directly funding part of the build-out.
According to Mupita, MTN is engaging potential global partners to share the investment burden and operational responsibilities. The plan described by the CEO is to construct facilities, sign up tenants that will supply Artificial Intelligence compute, and then rent capacity to other businesses and governments in African markets. MTN is also weighing whether to equip the data centers with its own hardware rather than relying solely on third-party kit. The company has already started building its first data center in Nigeria; the article notes an estimated cost but does not provide a specific figure, which is Not stated in the report.
The move reflects MTN’s strategy to vertically integrate parts of the cloud and compute stack for the continent, creating a supply of local capacity for Artificial Intelligence applications and services. Discussions with international firms suggest MTN is seeking partners with capital and technical expertise to scale the program beyond the initial Nigerian site. Details on timelines, the identities of the US and European firms involved, and the full financial scope of the project were not disclosed and remain Not stated in the article.
