South Africa is emerging as one of the markets for next-wave data centre growth in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, with the country’s availability of land potentially giving it an advantage, as established European hubs face growing constraints.
This is one of the key findings of an analysis by data centre market research firm DC Byte, titled: “Key takeaways on the next wave of EMEA data centre growth”.
It finds that data centre development across EMEA is reaching a wider range of locations than ever before. Yet each market's prospects depend on how successfully demand translates into operational capacity.
The EMEA region has 93GW of IT capacity, spanning live facilities, construction, committed projects and early-stage developments. Almost a quarter of this is concentrated in Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin, collectively known as FLAP-D, notes the study.
Those established hubs remain central to the region’s digital infrastructure. However, power and land constraints are pushing developers and customers to consider alternative locations, such as emerging markets, that can meet their requirements quickly.
During a DC Byte webinar examining the future of the data centre market across EMEA, Christian Tshishiku, lead analyst at DC Byte, unpacked the factors determining where the next generation of data centre capacity will be built, including power availability, land, deployment timelines and government support.
Presenting a geo-infographic of the region, he identified SA among the markets outside the established data centre hubs that are attracting capacity in the next wave of development.
“It’s interesting to see that most of the next-wave markets are still in Europe. In the Middle East, we have Abu Dhabi and Riyadh as well. And then, in Africa, we are talking about South Africa as a whole. It’s interesting that these are all different markets in different countries, benefiting from power and land constraints in other regions.
“We also saw this with Stockholm. We’re looking at how cheap power can be in Sweden. If we go to Madrid, we’re looking at the next wave of projects that have been coming to the market, as a result of cheaper land in comparison with the other European countries.”
The resources constraint challenge becomes more pronounced as data centre requirements shift towards artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, which can require large amounts of power concentrated in individual facilities or campuses, he added.
According to Tshishiku, the availability of physical space could become one of Africa’s advantages, as the data centre market looks to accommodate increasingly large facilities and AI-related deployments.
He pointed out that data centre operators looking at EMEA have to consider the availability of land alongside power, particularly as AI infrastructure drives demand for larger data centre campuses.
“If we look in EMEA, Africa and the Middle East probably have a better advantage on that because they have more available space in comparison to Europe, where they have built infrastructure across the whole geography.
“For African markets, this creates an opportunity to attract some of the next wave of capacity, provided they can address the infrastructure and resources requirements that are driving investment towards alternative locations.”
Competing for next wave of investment
The geo-infographic shows EMEA’s 93GW of total data centre capacity is heavily concentrated in Europe, which accounts for 88% of the region’s capacity.
Within Europe, the FLAP-D markets alone account for 24% of EMEA’s total capacity, highlighting the continued dominance of established European hubs.
By comparison, the Middle East accounts for 9%, while Africa represents just 3% of EMEA’s total data centre capacity, indicating the African data centre market remains significantly smaller than its European and Middle Eastern counterparts, but also has considerable room for expansion.
According to Tshishiku, the availability of land does not mean every site will be suitable for a data centre. Operators still have to secure sufficient power and assess how quickly that power can be delivered.
He also pointed out that data centres are competing with other sectors for land, meaning governments and developers have to consider the infrastructure requirements of multiple industries.
Reliable power supply is also a key consideration when assessing a new data centre market. The issue is not simply whether electricity is available, but whether the required capacity in SA and Africa can be delivered within a limited timeframe. This becomes particularly important when customers expect infrastructure to be delivered within 12 to 24 months.
“So, I would probably start with power as number one, which I think, even in the next markets, is number one. So, if we are talking about power, it’s about power availability and the timelines for getting that power,” he continued.
This has particular relevance for SA, where the future expansion of data centre capacity will depend on the ability to match new developments with available electricity infrastructure.
SA’s electricity supply has become more stable following a sustained period of load-shedding. The country has reached 504 consecutive days without load-shedding since 16 May 2025, according to Eskom.
However, constraints around grid capacity, transmission infrastructure and the availability of power at specific locations remain.
AI alters future requirements
SA is in the midst of a new wave of data centre development as operators and hyperscalers increasingly identify the country as a strategic location for expanding capacity.
The market has attracted major investments from established players, including Digital Realty-owned Teraco, Africa Data Centres, Vantage Data Centres, Open Access Data Centres and Equinix, while hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft have also established local infrastructure.
The expansion reflects rising demand for cloud services, AI workloads and digital connectivity, with SA’s relatively developed digital infrastructure and position as a gateway to the rest of the continent strengthening its appeal to global and regional data centre providers.
DC Byte has also identified Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco as the continent’s key data centre markets, with Nigeria and Kenya moving towards wholesale facilities capable of accommodating hyperscale demand.
According to DC Byte, the emergence of AI has the potential to alter the requirements for future African data centre development. Rather than simply adding conventional co-location facilities, markets may increasingly need to accommodate large, power-intensive campuses.
PwC forecasts global data centre capital expenditure could reach $31.6 trillion through 2050, with an upside of nearly $50 trillion as AI adoption accelerates.
For SA and the rest of the continent, this creates an opportunity but also raises the infrastructure requirements associated with competing for the next wave of investment, notes DC Byte.
“The emergence of large AI campuses is also changing the requirements for data centre sites. Operators considering AI campuses would need to consider land alongside power, potentially increasing the importance of locations where large-scale infrastructure can be accommodated,” notes the report.
DC Byte further warns that a location may be capable of supporting an initial large development but struggles when several major campuses begin drawing on the same infrastructure.
This means African markets seeking to attract AI and hyperscale investment will need to consider not only whether they can power the first wave of projects, but whether their supporting infrastructure can accommodate successive phases of growth.
“The size of a data centre development pipeline also needs to be treated cautiously. DC Byte points to Milan, where almost 70% of total IT capacity is still at an early development stage, as an example of how headline pipeline figures can exaggerate the amount of infrastructure likely to become operational. Project announcements should not automatically be interpreted as forecasts of completed facilities, particularly where developments still require approvals or firm tenant commitments.”
Africa enters the next phase of data centre development with a potentially valuable asset: space to accommodate future capacity. Securing that advantage will depend on power availability and delivery timelines, suitable sites, infrastructure planning and the ability of data centre operators to build support among governments and communities, the study concludes.
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