G42 / Microsoft East Africa Cloud Region data centre campus

Microsoft's 22 May 2024 announcement says G42 and local partners would design and build the data centre campus in Olkaria, Kenya. It describes a new Microsoft Azure East Africa Cloud Region powered entirely by renewable geothermal energy and using water-conservation technology. The announced $1 billion is for a broader digital initiative covering the data centre plus local-language AI, an innovation lab and skills programmes, connectivity, and government cloud collaboration. It should not be cited as the facility's individual construction cost. The source says the cloud region would become operational within 24 months of signing definitive agreements. Because it does not state that those definitive agreements were signed or give their date, this record does not infer a fixed operational deadline. The Swahili/English language model mentioned in the announcement was being trained using G42 infrastructure in the United States. It is therefore not evidence of AI training taking place at the planned Olkaria campus. By May 2026, the original plan and timetable had stalled. Data Center Dynamics reported an initial 100MW concept scaling to 1GW, which would be roughly one-third of Kenya's approximately 3GW installed generation capacity. President William Ruto described the implication more starkly: operating it at that scale could require switching off power to roughly half the country. Power was not the only obstacle. Bloomberg reported that talks broke down over Microsoft's request for the Kenyan government to guarantee annual purchases of compute capacity. Data Center Dynamics also reported that a project concept note did not receive National Treasury clearance. The project should not currently be described as formally cancelled. Kenya's Special Tech Envoy denied that it had been suspended or withdrawn and said the government remained committed to enabling projects of this kind by expanding national generation toward 10GW. Reporting also indicates that discussions may continue around a smaller project. The tracker therefore records the present status as `paused`, with project continuation treated as disputed.