FDI Intelligence reported that Addis Ababa ranked second globally in attracting foreign investors who are engaged in the sector of data center construction. Addis Ababa stood second from 100 cities selected for the report who attracted foreign direct investment in data center construction between January 2003 and June 2022.

The list of the selected cities included London, Shanghai, Tokyo, Istanbul, and Seoul. The study of FDI Intelligence shows that Beijing tops the list.

The study used various parameters to select the best cities including quality and technological advancement of the data center construction, level of infrastructure development, and availability of labor force in the sector.

Various companies are building data centers in Addis Ababa. In January this year, Safaricom Ethiopia announced that it was building its first data center in the capital city at a cost of USD 100 million. Safaricom also plans to build data centers, first at Adama and Dire Dawa, then across the rest of the country. Another company called RedFox Solutions Group launched its data center in Addis Ababa in September this year.

Source: Fana BC

Additional sources: Safaricom Ethiopia and IPDC