Competition is intensifying in Africa's rapidly growing data center market. Both local and foreign companies are increasing their investments in infrastructure to meet the rising demand for cloud services across the continent. 

An agreement was signed on Monday, May 8, to secure land for the construction of a large-scale data center in Egypt. Khazna Data Centers, a company specializing in data center construction and operations based in Abu Dhabi, has partnered with the Egyptian ICT company, Benya Group, to carry out the project. The agreement was signed by Ahmed Mekky, CEO of Benya Group, Hassan Al Naqbi, CEO of Khazna Data Centers, and Amr Aboualam, chairman of Maadi Technology Park.

Under the agreement, Khazna Data Centers and Benya Group will build a $250 million data center at Maadi Technology Park in Cairo. The center will have a capacity of 25 megawatts (MW) that is expected to double to 50 MW as expansion plans are implemented. The goal is to meet the region's underserved data markets. Construction works are expected to begin later this year and be completed within three years.  

The new agreement marks Khazna’s entrance into the Egyptian market. The company plans to expand into three other MENA markets, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Morocco.

According to Ahmed Mekky, Khazna's expansion in Egypt "will contribute to attracting more investments for business sectors involving intensive operations, supporting cloud computing and content system operators” and “encourage major commercial companies to join these giant digital clusters that rely on the latest cloud computing applications, digital technology, and big data."

Samira Njoya