On Wednesday, Microsoft and G42 unveiled a major digital investment initiative in collaboration with Kenya’s Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy. G42, in partnership with Microsoft and other stakeholders, will spearhead an initial investment of $1 billion to support various projects within this initiative.
G42, in collaboration with local partners, will design and build a cutting-edge data center campus in Olkaria, Kenya. This facility will be powered entirely by renewable geothermal energy and feature advanced water conservation technology. The data center will host Microsoft Azure services through a new East Africa Cloud Region, set to become operational within 24 months of the agreement signing.
East Africa Digital Expansion
The initiative also includes four additional pillars to be developed with local partners that includes development and research of AI models in local languages, establishment of an East Africa Innovation Lab and extensive AI digital skills training, investments in international and local connectivity, and collaboration with the Kenyan government to ensure safe and secure cloud services across East Africa.
This new cloud region will offer customers scalable, secure, high-speed cloud and AI services, accelerating cloud adoption and the digital transformation of businesses, customers, and partners across Kenya and East Africa.
Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, said, “This represents the single largest and broadest digital investment in Kenya’s history and reflects our confidence in the country, the government, its people and the future of East Africa.”
G42 has also started training an open-source large language AI model in Swahili and English using its data infrastructure in the United States. To further advance research in Kenya, Microsoft and G42 will strengthen their collaboration with local universities
Microsoft’s Aggressive Global Expansion
In April, Microsoft invested $1.5 billion in UAE-based technology holding company G42, where the focus was to expand AI technologies and skilling initiatives not only in the UAE, but across the globe.
Microsoft also committed to investing in South East Asian countries in the last couple of months. The company announced $1.7 billion to advance Indonesia’s Cloud and AI infrastructure. The first data center in Thailand was opened up last month by Microsoft and committed to providing upskilling opportunities for over 100,000 people.
