African Data Center Gigawatt Report 2022: Pan-African Providers, Global Platforms and the Next Cycle of M&A - Africa's Billion-Dollar Data Center Revenue Outlook

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Dec 16, 2022, 07:30 ET

DUBLIN, Dec. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "The African Data Center Gigawatt - 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

African markets are witnessing an unprecedented wave of data center capacity build-out, driven by the awesome pressure to harness the explosive flows of data traffic sweeping the region, the gravity-like pull of physics and network latency, and the rising but no less powerful demands for national data sovereignty.

Africa's commercial hosting capacity has surged and is now doubling every three years. This new report looks deep into the drivers of African hosting capacity growth, analyzes key questions facing the sector, from overbuild risk to true demand potential, likely hyperscaler destinations, edge strategies, sustainability in the face of power and water shortages and overall investor value.

This analysis lays out why data centers have become some of the most highly-valued assets in Africa's digital infrastructure fabric. The reference research for all investors, data center providers and market participants in the growing African data center sector. This report includes a report in PDF format and key chart data in Excel.

Summary:

For much of the past decade, data centers were the weak link of Africa's digital infrastructure buildout, a market segment too small and too insular to be meaningful. No longer.

As broadband penetration continues to increase, African markets have witnessed an unprecedented wave of data center capacity buildout, driven by the awesome pressure to harness the explosive flows of data traffic sweeping the region, the gravity-like pull of physics and network latency, and the rising but no less powerful demands for national data sovereignty.

The African market is now in the midst of a seminal phase of construction activity. Around 70 new facilities have been built over the past five years, with 2022 the biggest year of construction to date. Africa's commercial hosting capacity has surged and is now doubling every three years.

Global investors are taking notice; Digital Realty and Equinix, the world's largest data center colocations providers have entered the market with acquisitions, perhaps the clearest indication yet of the mainstreaming of African networks into global interconnected platforms.

Today, African data centers are some of the most highly-valued assets in the region's digital infrastructure fabric. They are one of the most essential pillars of Africa's emerging age of cloud, a phase of prodigious explosion in Internet traffic, cloud adoption, and integration of software into daily life and business operations.

The rise of the data center market has unleashed a new set of questions around overbuild risk, true demand potential, likely hyperscaler destinations, edge strategies, sustainability in the face of power and water shortages, and overall investor value.

This report explores all these questions, providing arguably the most in-depth view into the growth, economics and overall potential of Africa's burgeoning data center industry.

Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary

Executive Summary: the African Data Center Market in 8 Indicators
Executive Summary: on the State of the Market
Executive Summary: on Africa's Data Center Market Outlook
Executive Summary: on Burning Investor Questions, from Overbuild Risk to Edge Computing

I. State of the Market: a Surge in Data Center Construction

Systemic Forces Are Boosting Demand for African Local Hosting Capacity
A Spike in Data Center Construction
African Facilities Are More Focused on Commercial Colocation
African Facilities Are Getting Larger - to Accommodate Cloud and Hyperscale
Africa's Largest Facilities - a Marked Change Over Time
Africa's Top 15 Facilities: a Ranking

II. State of Supply: a Boom of African Hosting Capacity

It's Not Early Anymore - from Dawn to Morning, Market Take-Off is Now Effective
The Potential It Load Has Crossed the 600Mw Mark
Data Center Capex: Nearly $3Bn Spent in Building African Hosting Infrastructure
Four Major Data Center Maturity Clusters, With South Africa Leading the Way
A Ranking of Africa's Top 10 Data Center Markets
Africa's Main Hyperscaler Market: South Africa
The Next Hyperscaler Cluster: Kenya and Nigeria
The High-Potential Market Cluster: Deep Underlying Potential - But Highly Constrained
The Small Market Cluster - Rest of Ssa, Striving to Catch Up, But on a Smaller Scale
Sharp Differences - Country Attractiveness to Data Center Investment
African Colo Metros - All About Johannesburg, Cape Town, Cairo, Lagos and Nairobi

III. The African Data Center Competitive Landscape: Pan-African Providers, Global Platforms and the Next Cycle of M&A

Who Controls Africa's Colocation Capacity? Carrier-Neutrality is a Sign of Maturity
The Global Colo Platforms Are Here
Africa Top 10 Providers by Size
African Pan-African Providers: Accelerating Expansion Outside of South Africa
At Last, the Global Providers Are Here
The Country-Focused Providers: Getting Stronger at Home
The Telcos: Strengthening Their Position - or Exploring Exits
Africa Key Colo Providers: Summary Market Presence and Gaps

IV. The African Data Center Demand Case: from Hyperscalers to the Enterprise

Demand for Data Center Capacity: Complex and Polymorphous
Connectivity Demand - the Glue That Binds the Data Center User Ecosystem
CDNS - Still Some Room to Grow
Content and Managed Services Providers: a Mostly Unrealized Demand Potential
Enterprise Demand - Colocation as a Complementary Path to the Cloud
Hyperscalers: Still a Considerable Presence Gap in Africa

V. Looking Ahead: Africa's Billion-Dollar Data Center Revenue Outlook

Summary Highlights - Accelerated Growth to Support the Age of Cloud
The Construction Boom Will Continue
Sample Africa Hyperscale Construction Projects
Market Outlook - the African Colo Market Has Come of Age, Will Double in Size
Looking to 2030 - a Gigawatt Horizon
Market Outlook: South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria to Lead the Way
High-Potential Cluster and Other Markets: Strong Potential, on a Smaller Scale
Revenue Outlook: Cracking the Billion-Dollar Mark
Capex Outlook: ~$3Bn in Data Center Capex Over the Next Five Years
Market Outlook: Key Colocation Revenue Indicators by Cluster

VI. Exploring Some Burning Investor Questions, from Overbuild Risk to Edge and Dc Valuations

What is the Risk of Capacity Overbuild in African Markets?
A Case for Patient Capital, as Harsh Micro Realities Trail the Macro Potential
Making the Demand Case - Key Charts
Africa's Emerging Case for Edge Computing
The Workload-Driven Edge Will Be More Impactful - But Mostly Needs 5G, Iot
Charting Africa's Progress Towards the Edge
Valuing African Data Centers - Well Above Other African Digital Infrastructure Assets
Africa's Expanding Interconnect Market: ~4 Tbps of Peering Traffic
The Evolution of the African IXP Market
On Colocation Pricing and Mrr: Competitive Pressures Vs. Inflationary Pressures
On African Data Center Sustainability: An Explosion of Data Center Electricity Usage
On African Data Center Sustainability: Downward Pressure on High Pues