Uganda has inaugurated what will be Africa’s very first artificial intelligence data center — an ambitious project designed to repatriate African data, strengthen digital sovereignty, and position the continent as a leading player in the global AI economy.
Driven by Synectics Technologies, with major partners such as Schneider Electric, Nvidia, and Turner & Townsend, this next-generation infrastructure represents an investment of around 1.2 billion dollars and will cover more than 32 hectares.
Through this project, the goal is also to transform the economic landscape. The infrastructure will make it possible to process sensitive data locally in key sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, finance, and climate science. Until now, most African data has been hosted abroad, raising concerns about security, privacy, and regulatory compliance.
With this center, data will remain on the continent, in compliance with local laws — particularly those requiring data to be hosted within Africa’s borders, as is already the case in Nigeria and Kenya.
