Microsoft’s massive Kenya AI data center would require switching off ‘half the country’ to meet power requirements, government says — $1 billion project stalls over capacity disagreements and lack of infrastructure
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/microsofts-1-billion-kenya-data-center-stalls-over-disagreements-on-power-capacity
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“President Ruto isn’t exaggerating about shutting off half the country’s power. Kenya’s total installed electricity capacity sits between 3,000 and 3,200 megawatts, and peak demand reached a record 2,444 megawatts in January, according to data from KenGen, the country’s government-owned electricity producer.”
Yeah so its not due to the demand of the data center but due to the supply of power being low for a whole country.
It is only 1 gigawatt build though that is alot compared to America data centers its relativity small. Still though you think they would not even attempt this scale given the current power/instructor issues.
I’m confused about this one. Why would one build an AI datacenter in a desert where it’s hot (and is there anough water?)? Is latency in AI work really that important to have it nearby?
All this when the country can’t have reliable electricity supply for even a day is a joke. Outages plague the Kenyan power grid, and a monstrous power hungry data center will suck the life out of the grid unless they build a dedicated power grid for it.
Building datacenters in hot places – not very smart, are they?:))))
No wonder. [Kenya hardly meets its own current demand and importing electricity ](https://hivisasa.africa/kenya-electricity-imports-ethiopia-triples-sh8-7b/)
Who the fuck thought this was a good idea?
So no one thought about this before announcing the project? It would be one of the biggest factor to look at, right?? Or did they just go through with the proposal thinking that this might still push through despite the effect???
Can data center built in cold regions like antartica or greenland?
A horrible idea to ask from a developing country
Someone’s “due process” for CAPEX sites is **deeply** flawed…unless they also plan to install an SMR or two.
I’m not a project manager or anything but I dunno, seems like this should have been figured out prior to green lighting a 1 billion dollar project?
This should be considered an international crime.
And where will all the heat go?
Kenya: You must keep our data within our borders!
Microsoft: Cool, we’ll build a data center.
Kenya: The hell you will!
How resilient is this bubble.
Can’t wait to see what Ed Zitron says about this.
The world will burn while the fat cats get fatter
Some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make. – Satya probably
I remeber learning about this in my studies last year.
This is gonna be a horrific ecological disaster. The area they’re building it in already has a water shortage, the data center is set to use literally ALL of the water in the region, lol.
If they do build this thing it won’t be long before either the Kenyan government has to protect or it is destroyed by near by residents
AI is rapidly becoming a nightmare!!
The main benefits are lack of regulation and ease of bribes
Africa is already a continent with many difficulties, so why create data centers there?
Holy shit. They really are building out skynet at the expense of humanity. What is wrong with these billionaires? We don’t need AI.
Very interesting seeing the extent of soft power and regional collaboration against China. I’m gunna guess they continue investing it power plants since they have an additional 42 planned by 2030 which will almost double capacity. Further they are seeking $600 billion in investment to become fully renewable and green by 2050 with EVs everywhere so they desperately need the oil money of the gulf nations and the tech money from MAG7 to achieve that while replacing China.
Why is the expectation that the struggling masses pay and or reduce their load when these companies make billions and have senior management with sallaries in the 10s of millions of dollars?
Kenya peak demand is like 2.3GW. How does a $1B AI center not blow up the grid plan?
Too bad Kenya doesn’t have much sun, they could use solar farms.
It’s a sacrifice they’re willing to make.
They should come with solar panels and battery banks.
Microsoft will fund a Nuclear power plant, that will be next. No issue.
The real want is the huge aquifer sitting under Africa that they can drain to cool the data center.
I read this first as a “Kanye AI data center” and I didn’t think AI could get worse until this moment.
Listen guys I’m no power expert but wouldn’t this have be known….i don’t know…. Before spending all this money?
Capacity – existing necessity = available power?
Maybe I should be run a billion dollar company
Want to build a data center? Build a power plant. Simple.
The original Bloomberg article this is based on is paywalled, mirror: https://archive.ph/C3X
Relevant part:
>Kenya is moving ahead with the talks, and “it is not failed or withdrawn,” John Tanui, principal secretary at Kenya’s Ministry of Information, said in an interview. “The scale of the data center they wanted to do still requires some structuring,” he said. Power requirements are also still under discussion, said Tanui, who didn’t comment on the specifics.
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>The agreement struck in 2024 envisioned a $1 billion geothermal-powered project to dramatically increase cloud computing in the region. The group at the time had said an initial phase with a capacity of about 100 megawatts, could be operational this year. The goal was to build out to as much as 1 gigawatt.
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>Kenyan President William Ruto has also suggested that the energy for the project exceeded the nation’s available resources. “We would need to switch off half the country for the data center to be powered,” he said at a recent state event in Nairobi.
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>Ruto’s “point has not been that the project was suspended, but that Kenya must confront the scale of energy required to support next-generation digital infrastructure,” Philip Thigo, Kenya’s special envoy for technology said in an emailed statement.
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>Talks for a 60 megawatt project with local developer EcoCloud are continuing, one of the people said.
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>Africa hosts about 1% of the world’s data center capacity, a potential barrier to the continent’s uptake of artificial intelligence. The Kenya site is the centerpiece of a Microsoft commitment to help the region build out AI infrastructure and adoption, including job training and new software models. The project would dramatically increase the cloud computing capabilities of the region and serve as a counter to Chinese companies’ technological expansion across Africa.
why build one on the equator? don’t you need cooling?
Yeah sorry guys but if you want to build data centers in Africa you’re going to have to invest heavily in infrastructure. Like building reliable power grids, desalination plants to supply water for cooling, roads for transporting the materials and equipment to build all of that. Sorry guys but if you want to exploit Africa for the digital age you’re gonna have to stop exploiting it and build it up.
MAKE ME PRESIDENT 💯 THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN
Just wait till they see how much water it will use. It will kill off a large chunk of the savannah too.
The demands of AI must come before the well-being of actual humans. /s
This might be a ridiculous idea, but why can’t these companies build power plants along with their giant data centers?
Why can’t Microsoft also build the infrastructure they need?
Meanwhile in Kenya, Gates (through his foundation) is funding “tools and technologies in agriculture, health, immunization, nutrition, sanitation, financial services, gender equality, family planning and more”, according to their website.
The foundation is not related to Microsoft, and Gates hasn’t had a leadership role at MS since he resigned from the board in 2020, although he is officially an advisor to the CEO. I wonder if he was consulted about this – it seems directly antithetical to his philanthropy.
I’d take the money and tell them to fuck off.
the billionaires will take as much as we let them, they will never stop
I build warehouse, hook to power and water from ground. What the problem? – Microsoft Execs
As a Kenyan, born and raised. It has been really interesting watching this discourse on LinkedIn with people saying that Kenya will fall behind on the AI race (LOL). Over the past week we have had two instances of blackouts make of that what you will. I had to install a solar panel on my roof for power backup because of how undependable power is in this country.
This is Africa. They are gonna have a long long loooong line of people with their hands out to make this happen. Good luck but I don’t see it coming to fruition.
Just about everyone lacks the infrastructure. All data centers are resource sinks. They need to disclose how much resources they use.
Well, yeah, but profits!!!