Microsoft · Amazon · South Korea · U.S. · Google · Rest of World
South Africa joins the global resistance against American data centers
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Civil rights groups in South Africa are protesting the expansion of data centers by American companies, marking one of the first coordinated attempts on the continent to slow AI infrastructure development.
Key facts
- Microsoft has committed 5.4 billion rand ($300 million) by 2027 to expand its digital and AI infrastructure in South Africa
- Amazon Web Services will invest $1.5 billion until 2029 to expand AI capabilities across Africa
- Equinix’s proposed 174-megawatt Cape Town facilities would use over 4.4 billion liters of water annually, according to the groups, as much as 18,000 homes would use in a year
- To increase capacity to 1 gigawatt could cost up to $8 billion, Isiadinso said
Summary
U.S. data center companies are investing billions in Africa to fill AI demand. Data centers proposed by U.S.-based Equinix face local pushback in Cape Town. Rights groups want a pause in data center expansion until stricter transparency rules are in place. “What we are saying is there should be a moratorium on data centers. … It must be across South Africa,” Kashiefa Achmat, chairperson of Housing Assembly, a Cape Town-based advocacy group, told Rest of World.