Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa’s ADC expands footprint with massive data center facility in South Africa

Africa Data Centers (ADC), a leading carrier-neutral data center provider owned by Zimbabwean billionare Strive Masiyiwa, has announced the construction of a second 20-megawatt data center in Cape Town, one of South Africa’s three capital cities.

According to a press release issued by ADC, a subsidiary of Masiyiwa’s pan-African technology group, Cassava Technologies Group, the new 20-megawatt facility will cover 15,000 square meters in eight data halls and is located on the northern outskirts of Cape Town’s city center.

The latest announcement comes nearly a week after ADC announced the construction of a 30-megawatt data center facility in Accra, Ghana, as part of a concerted effort to become the continent’s leading provider of digital services and solutions.

While commenting on the need for the new data center facility, the management explained that the increase in data volumes in South Africa, as well as the demand for capacity to store and process it, prompted ADC’s ambitious regional expansion plans.

“As Africa’s largest and leading network of interconnected, carrier- and cloud-neutral data center facilities,” the management said, “we are constantly working to provide the infrastructure to help companies achieve their digital goals.”

According to Tesh Durvasula, CEO of ADC, the new Cape Town facility is a critical part of ADC’s expansion drive in the region because there is a clear pipeline of demand for colocation space that the existing Diep River data center cannot serve.

He added that the new facility will expand on the company’s existing operations in South Africa, as the country remains the continent’s largest data center market, with a thriving data center industry, and has been ranked number 25 globally by cloud-scene based on data center density.

The Cape Town project is presently in the design phase, with construction set to begin in the fourth quarter of 2022. When completed by the end of 2023, the facility will create a broad range of job opportunities by providing digital services and hiring local contractors and workers for the building, ranging from entry-level to high-tech.