A US $260m data centre is set to be constructed in Kenya’s Mwale Medical and Technology City in Kakamega County. Project developers, Atos Origin, an international IT services company, made the announcement and said they have started laying out the groundwork for the initial pilot phase of the project.
The data centre will be located at Mwale Medical and Technology City (MMTC) in Butere. It is part of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovation district in the city, expected to be complete by end of next year, 2022 and will be one of the largest in the region.
The MMTC project began in 2014 and it is being developed in three phases. Phase one consisted of a Hamptons Mall and Mwalmart supermarket among others. Phase two works include the Hamptons Hospital among others, while phase three has the technology park which Atos Origin team led by the Senior project manager for the SADC region, Virgil Chetty noted that it will entail installation of the artificial intelligence system. KE International is overseeing the AI Cluster implementation.
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Global technology and innovation hub
“We are building a large AI cluster focused on healthcare and agriculture. This will enable a seamless operation of the currently open Hamptons hospital, as it positions to serve the Lake region economic Bloc, with 16 million people and the larger East African region,” said Virgil Chetty.
The Centre is expected to turn Kenya into a global technology and innovation hub which will attract foreign direct investment from multinational companies. A similar project valued at US $241m was launched last year in Johannesburg, South Africa by Teraco Data Environments.
“We expect 10,000 engineering/ research and entrepreneurial job opportunities to be created at the innovation district directly from the establishment of the data center,” said Virgil Chetty.
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