By Claire Obae
- Africa is leveraging its cloud infrastructure with heavy reliance on Amazon’s AWS, Google’s Cloud, and Microsoft’s Azure
- The global cloud computing market that’s estimated to be worth $200B globally
It’s becoming very cloudy in Africa with some of the world’s largest tech companies fighting for control in the sky. There’s been a rush of new entrants vying for their slice of the African cloud computing market that’s estimated to be worth $200 billion globally with Amazon’s (AMZN -0.89%) AWS leading the way, according to Statista. The reason for this rush is clear: data is the new oil, and Africa has a lot of it.
Why This Matters: Microsoft (MSFT -0.04%) has already injected $100 million for a cloud development center which will employ 500 staff in the next five years. Additionally, Google (GOOG +0.21%) has been steadily increasing its presence on the continent since 2015 when it opened its first data center.
Africa makes a fertile ground for new entrants in the cloud market: The region has a low penetration rate for telecommunications infrastructure, meaning that there’s plenty of room for growth. While these factors may make Africa an attractive market, conquering it won’t be easy. The cost of running a global cloud computing business can be staggering.
What’s Next: Africa is experiencing its own data revolution, not only in terms of the amount of data generated in the continent, but also in the way it is being used. From the creation of artificial intelligence to advances in healthcare, big data is driving innovation and economic growth in every sector.
CBx Vibe: “Temperature’s Rising” Mobb Deep
