In a move set to transform East Africa’s digital landscape, Oracle, a hyper-growth Artificial Intelligence (AI) Infrastructure Provider has partnered with iXAfrica Data Centre Limited to host its first public cloud region in Kenya.
The collaboration, which follows an announcement by H.E. President William Ruto in January 2024, positions Nairobi as a critical hub for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).
By selecting iXAfrica,one of the largest hyperscale, carrier-neutral facility in East and Central Africa, Oracle noted it is moving to satisfy the surging demand for secure and scalable cloud services across the region.
A facility ready for the AI era
iXAfrica stated it was chosen as the colocation partner primarily because it is currently one of the “execution-ready” hyperscale facility in the Kenyan market.
“The data centre has been purpose-built to meet rigorous global standards, featuring high-density AI capabilities and a resilient power architecture designed to support massive workloads,” the data center noted.
Furthermore, the facility cited its proximity to major submarine cables and national connectivity infrastructure ensures the low latency required for modern, data-intensive applications.
Empowering the regional digital economy
The local hosting of OCI is expected to have a profound impact on how businesses and government agencies operate.
By keeping data within Kenya’s borders, the partnership supports digital sovereignty while allowing organizations to deploy AI-powered services much closer to their end users.
Snehar Shah, CEO of iXAfrica, expressed his enthusiasm for the project, stating: “We are delighted to be in execution mode to bring OCI to Kenya. With this collaboration, iXAfrica is leveraging the renewable energy, talent, and abundant submarine and national connectivity available in our market.”
Echoing this sentiment, David Bunei, Oracle’s country leader for Kenya, highlighted the global trust in their platform.
“Around the world, governments and enterprises rely on OCI for its security, scalability, and ability to run mission-critical workloads that enable innovation at scale,” he said. “These unique capabilities and our collaboration with iXAfrica will further support the growth of the country’s digital economy.”
Immediate execution and scale
Currently, construction and power infrastructure at the iXAfrica site are in the advanced stages of deployment. Because the facility is already operating in “full execution mode,” it is noted to be uniquely positioned to meet the stringent operational requirements of a global cloud provider like Oracle.
As a result of this infrastructure readiness, Kenyan enterprises will soon be able to migrate mission-critical workloads to a local public cloud, fostering a more competitive and resilient digital ecosystem.
With Nairobi One Campus’s overall design capacity of 22.5MW, iXAfrica is one of the largest data centre project in the greater East African region, serving a total population of over 300 million people.
The firm said its campus is situated close to the main fiber optic communications arteries and is in close proximity to major and resilient electrical connections, capable of delivering high-availability and low-carbon power.
“iXAfrica is also able to power the high-density AI workloads as high as 50 kW per rack using its free-air cooling technology and over 90% of Kenya’s electricity is generated from renewable/clean energy sources.”