Kenya has disagreed with global tech giant Microsoft over terms for building a Sh129 billion ($1 billion) data centre, triggering a delay in the construction of the hub that was set to boost the country’s prospects in the global AI race. Kenya is hesitant to back Microsoft’s demands for the country to mobilise the neighbouring countries and offer a guarantee for the uptake of cloud capacity from the mega data centre. The US tech giant also wants Nairobi to guarantee regional network connectivity, which would enhance uptake of capacity in the centre from governments and private firms.The upgrade of the facility to require 1000 megawatts of power from the initial 60MW for regional use has spooked Kenya, which reckons it lacks electricity capacity to support the data centre. In May 2024, Microsoft partnered with UAE-based AI firm G42 to invest $1 billion in a data centre in Kenya ⁠as part of its efforts to expand cloud computing services in East Africa. The project was announced during Kenyan President William Ruto’s State Visit to Washington that year under the Biden administration. But the project now risks being delayed by the disagreements over the company’s request for guaranteed payments. “There are some guarantees that the government cannot give because some things are determined by market forces, such as procurement and investments,” Principal Secretary for ICT John Tanui told the Business Daily.“Cloud services are paid per usage. At the same time, these are international decisions because Microsoft wants a data centre that serves the whole East African region, so these are different jurisdictions involved, and we cannot make a blanket decision on some things.” The facility was set to run entirely on geothermal power as well as provide access to Microsoft's Azure through a cloud region for East Africa. Microsoft and G42 asked the Kenyan government to commit to paying for a certain amount of capacity annually, ⁠but the talks broke down when it couldn’t provide the guarantees at the level Microsoft requested, a Bloomberg News report said. Their reports that the group might ultimately decide to scale back the project.Kenya reckons that it’s not backing off from the project, and is keen on talks to bridge the differences. “The talks have not collapsed; they are still ongoing, and we are very confident. Given the scale of the project, it is still in its gestation stage and missing one deadline should not be seen otherwise,” Tanui said. The data centre in Olkaria, Nakuru County, is set to powered by geothermal energy, which accounts for about 40 percent of Kenya’s energy mix, and equipped with advanced water-conservation technology.But President Ruto himself recently acknowledged that Kenya had underestimated the scale of the energy demand, saying at an event in Nairobi, “To switch on that one data centre, we would need to shut off power for half the country.” Kenya’s installed capacity is about 3,000 megawatts, meaning the facility would consume nearly a third of the national supply. He argued that the country must raise its capacity to 10,000 megawatts by 2030 to support next-generation digital infrastructure.“These expectations are because of the scale of this data centre. For the other data centres already in the country, including Oracle’s, our part as the government has not had commercial requirements, just providing power, connectivity and security,” added Mr Tanui. Data centres consume immense power because they operate thousands of servers to process and store data, with significant energy required for constant cooling to prevent overheating. Driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing, the facilities require immense electricity, with large data centres often consuming as much power as a small city.At the same time, the centres require large volumes of water supply for cooling systems that prevent servers from overheating, particularly as AI demands surge. Water is used in evaporative cooling towers to absorb heat, which then evaporates into the air. Kenya has only two data centres capable of supporting AI workloads. According to research firm Data Centre Map, South Africa leads Africa with five such facilities, while Nigeria has one. Data centres are the main infrastructure powering AI by providing the high computing power, specialised computer hardware and the large storage needed to train and deploy complex language models. (ICE NAIROBI)

Fonte notizia: Business Daily