In Africa, the Chinese tech company is venturing into emerging niches whose potential is becoming apparent with the digital revolution.

Chinese tech giant Huawei is set to establish its new public cloud zone in Africa, located in Egypt. It will be the second on the continent, after the one in South Africa. The project, which has been in the works since last year, is expected to be completed by the end of next year. It was announced by Jeremy Lin, Vice President of Huawei’s Northern Africa region, which spans twenty-eight countries, at a press conference in Barcelona on Tuesday, February 27.

Adnane Ben Halima, Huawei Northern Africa’s Vice President in charge of public relations for the Mediterranean region, elaborated on the decision to choose Egypt as the host for this new cloud zone. Factors include the size of the Egyptian market, which is already a lucrative opportunity for Huawei, and the rapid growth of cloud services in the country, spurred by the government’s digital transformation vision. Egypt’s strategic location, serving as a hub for several terrestrial and submarine broadband connectivity infrastructures, and its geographical position allowing access to West, Central, and East Africa, were also considered.

Ben Halima further explained Huawei’s role as a cloud provider, stating, “We provide infrastructure for customers who want to buy solutions. But we are also public cloud providers. That means we have the same offering as Amazon, Microsoft Azure, etc. We have clouds in China, Ireland, Eastern Europe, and so on. We choose countries in which we have infrastructure that is connected to the region that is going to access it, so that usage is sustainable.”

According to a report by The Insights Partners, a market research and consulting firm, the global cloud computing market, valued at $405.3 billion in 2022, is projected to reach $1,465.8 billion by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.9%. This growth is expected to be driven by the increasing demand for advanced digital solutions and the adoption of technologies such as AI, 5G, IoT, and edge computing. While the Asia-Pacific, North America, and Europe regions are currently the main contributors to this growth, Africa is also on a rising trajectory, thanks to its growing adoption of digital technologies and increased government support.

The new cloud zone in Egypt will be an addition to Huawei’s existing 85 zones across 30 regions, enabling the company to cater to the increasing demand for affordable cloud offerings in African markets.

Muriel Edjo