Africa's largest telecom operator, MTN Group, has agreed with Dubai-based businessman Tarek Al Ashram to build 150 megawatts (MW) of AI data centres across Africa, an initiative intended to power the continent's next growth frontier.

According to a Bloomberg report on Thursday, Al Ashram — who is also the co-founder of the KKR & Co.-backed Gulf Data Hub — will back the new Africa Data Hub Holding venture through his own investment firm. KKR agreed in 2024 to invest up to $500 million in Gulf Data Hub to fund data centre development across the Middle East. Responding to queries, he said the plan would help shape Africa's growth.

"We see significant potential to bring our experience in developing and operating large-scale data centre platforms to African markets," Al Ashram said.

Africa currently has more than 210 data centres that store cloud information, but these facilities still lack the intelligence needed to fuel the next stage of technological transition. While traditional data centres host websites and manage databases, AI data centres serve as AI factories.

The continent holds an estimated 19 dedicated AI data centres across seven countries, with total capacity of 1.3 gigawatts (GW) — less than 1% of the world's AI data centre capacity, according to World Economic Forum data. MTN and Al Ashram's planned 150MW, once fully built, would equal roughly 12% of that existing dedicated African capacity. Larger projects, including a 1 GW facility planned by Microsoft and G42 in Kenya, are in the works but have yet to materialise. Such facilities are needed to increase the continent's digital-readiness capacity, as Africa's AI market is projected to grow from $4.5 billion in 2025 to $16.5 billion by 2030, according to Mastercard.

Al Ashram said he sees growing demand for data centres on the continent and wants to be part of that supply alongside MTN, noting that Africa now presents a similar opportunity to what the Middle East has experienced over the years. Demand for AI data centres, he said, is driven by "strong underlying demand, rapidly expanding digital economies and an increasing need for resilient and scalable infrastructure."

Funding figures have yet to be revealed, but the project will be financed by MTN and the UAE-based company. Building a 150MW AI data centre is expected to cost between $3 billion and $6 billion.

The announcement follows MTN's first-half 2026 results, in which Nigeria and Ghana powered historic revenue of $7.18 billion, offsetting struggles in South Africa.

MTN's Ambition 2030 strategy carries significant weight in its plans to diversify its telecoms operations, digital payments and the infrastructure that powers these services, spanning connectivity, fintech and digital infrastructure. The first step towards building a strong digital infrastructure for this growth is the ongoing buyback of the 70% stake it did not own in IHS Towers. Once the deal is completed by the second half of 2026, MTN will have control over the infrastructure that powers its telecom operations, fintech and data centres.

Telecom companies globally are investing in data centres to meet growing consumer and enterprise demand for AI and to capture a share of the income stream from hyperscalers. Hyperscalers, for their part, have been extending their own African footprints, with Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Google each opening cloud regions on the continent since 2019. MTN, which operates in 16 African markets, wants to be part of this trend.

The plan to build a 150MW AI data centre in Nigeria and South Africa was first revealed in MTN's H1 2026 earnings statement, released on Monday.

Speaking at an event in South Africa on Tuesday, MTN Chief Executive Ralph Mupita said: "The approach that we are taking on the building of our AI business is to partner with third parties, and the entity that we are partnering with has built data centres in the UAE."

"We are taking a phased approach and will start building out 150 megawatts of AI data centre capacity," he added.

The facility is expected to help the company process its own workflows and rent out space to hyperscalers, other enterprise businesses and governments. It also comes as Africans seek to host their data sets on home soil rather than outside the continent, where they have less control.

According to Mupita, preparations for the AI data centre build-up have already started. MTN has been purchasing land and negotiating power agreements to ensure it can carry out a multi-phased build-out of facilities across Africa, he said. The focus on power supply is deliberate: AI data centres are far more electricity-intensive than conventional facilities, and grid reliability varies across African markets — South Africa, one of the venture's first locations, has contended with rolling power cuts in recent years.