With digital transformation accelerating worldwide, interest in cloud services is intensifying. Other continents have made considerable progress in that field while Africa barely accounts for 1% of the data centers installed globally.
Chinese tech giant Huawei will invest $200 million to create Africa's first public cloud center, offering over 200 cloud services. Terry HE, President of Huawei Northern Africa (North, West, and Central Africa), made the announcement at the opening of the 8th edition of "Huawei Connect", held from September 20 to 22 in Shanghai, China.
"Every technological evolution is the result of perseverance, exploration, and investment," said Terry HE (photo), before adding that "to expedite intelligent transformation in Northern Africa, Huawei will intensify its investments in technologies, ecosystems, and talent."
The $200 million investment announced is part of the $430 million the company plans to invest in Africa over the next five years. Under that investment plan, Huawei will make a further $200 million available to support 200 local software partners and strengthen 1,300 distribution partners. The remaining $30 million will be injected to train 10,000 local developers and 100,000 digital professionals, creating a skilled workforce to drive smart transformation in the region.
This initiative is part of Huawei's new strategy to assist Africa toward a "smart, connected future". In addition to improving deployment capacity, reducing costs, and securing data storage, Huawei's public cloud will also provide services capable of supporting extensive, efficient, and high-quality digital coverage, while reducing carbon emissions.
It should be remembered that Africa's share of the cloud market is still relatively marginal compared with the global market, which reached $445 billion in 2021. According to the report "Global Cloud Computing Market (2021 to 2028)", that market will triple to $1,200 billion by 2028. To improve its share in the market, Africa needs significant investments.
Samira Njoya
