Data Centres & Networks

SMART Zambia, an official body mandated to coordinate and implement electronic government, and ICT giant Huawei Technologies have announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding to jointly support the development in Zambia of a National Artificial Intelligence Data Centre.

Avelacom, a ultra-low latency connectivity and infrastructure provider, says it has launched a new direct low-latency route between Bangkok and Tokyo, which, it says, delivers less than 65 ms round-trip delay (RTD).

Global cable manufacturer Prysmian announced on Thursday it  has partnered with Ufinet Brasil to deploy a 30 km underground network to boost interconnectivity for hyperscale data centres in Sao Paulo Province’s Alphaville.

Digital Edge, which delivers data centre and fibre solutions for hyperscalers and enterprises across nine countries in the Asia-Pacific region, has announced the successful closing of its inaugural US$575 million holding company (HoldCo) financing.

Nigeria’s Kasi Cloud Datacenters said on Tuesday that it has flagged off its planned hyperscale, AI-ready, carrier-neutral data centre in Lagos that it’s positioning as a sovereign alternative to global platforms.

DE-CIX announced that its ACIX (Africa Congo Internet Exchange) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has expanded its presence to a second data centre, making ACIX the first distributed IX in the DRC.

Plans by data centre company Equinix to build two data centres in Cape Town South Africa are facing opposition over alleged lack of transparency relating to their potential effect on the environment.

Global digital infrastructure company Colt Technology Services said on Monday it has added a new point of presence (PoP) in Istanbul, Turkey, to meet growing demand for infrastructure capacity to support AI workloads and enterprise digital transformation plans.

Australian data centre operator NextDC has launched its first overseas data centre – KL1 in Kuala Lumpur – to support the rapid growth of AI, cloud computing and digital services across Southeast Asia.

Sovereign AI infrastructure company Amini has announced a strategic partnership alongside electronics manufacturer Foxconn and Bull, a major name in high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and quantum computing, to close the sovereign compute gap across Africa and the Global South.

Thailand's Board of Investment (BOI) said on Wednesday it has approved three data centre projects – the biggest one involving TikTok – with a combined investment value of THB913 billion (US$27 billion).

Data centre and fibre solutions provider Digital Edge and private power producer B.Grimm Power have announced the successful signing of a US$880 million green loan to finance the development of the joint venture's 100MW BKK Campus in Chonburi in eastern Thailand.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) said on Thursday that it will take several months to fully restore services for its Middle East (UAE) Region (ME-CENTRAL-1) after its data centres in the UAE and Bahrain sustained damage due to the war between the US, Israel and Iran.

Data centre operator Princeton Digital Group (PDG) has announced the acquisition of a new site in Indonesia for its latest hyperscale data centre campus, JC4.

Hyperscale data centre platform AirTrunk has announced plans to invest about US$3 billion to develop two new data centres in Malaysia, to be called JHB3 and JHB4.

Independent infrastructure investment manager I Squared Capital has announced that it has agreed to acquire Elea Data Centres, one of the largest carrier-neutral data centre platforms in Brazil.

AI company Pleias and the GSMA announced on Tuesday they have released CommonLingua, an open-source language identification (LID) model that they say will help close the African language gap in AI.

It is being widely reported that Indian multinational conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL) is planning to invest more than US$17 billion in setting up a 1.5-gigawatt data centre cluster and a captive solar battery storage system in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

South Korean conglomerate SK Group said on Friday it has signed two MoUs with the Vietnamese government to develop core AI infrastructure to build the country's AI industry ecosystem.

African data sovereignty is again in the news. UniCloud Africa (UCA), a pan-African sovereign cloud platform, and data centre company Open Access Data Centres (OADC), have announced a strategic partnership to, as they put it, accelerate Africa’s digital transformation and independence.

NTT Data announced on Monday that it has established active 400 Gbps peering at the Johannesburg Internet Exchange (JINX), adding that it’s the first network operator in Africa to do so.

Operator Econet Wireless Zimbabwe says it has launched Econet AI, which is described as a dedicated standalone business unit created to accelerate artificial intelligence adoption across the country’s economy.

Hyperscale data centre platform AirTrunk has announced the acquisition of Lumina CloudInfra, a developer of large-scale data centres with a strong presence in India.

TM Nxera – the JV comprising Telekom Malaysia and Singaporean data centre operator Nxera – completed construction of its first hyperscale AI-ready data centre in Johor on Friday.

Africa Data Centres announced on Monday it has signed a deal with South African fibre optic cable infrastructure provider Oni-Tel Fibre Networks to strengthen interconnectivity across its facilities in Gauteng province.

AI infrastructure specialist Nexus Core Systems says it has signed an MoU with Moroccan government agencies to invest MAD12 billion (US$1.29 billion) to build an AI factory in the country next year.

Equinix announced on Wednesday it has opened its fourth International Business Exchange (IBX) data centre in Mumbai to support high-performance workloads and hybrid multicloud deployments in India.

The London Internet Exchange (LINX), a not-for-profit organisation delivering interconnection solutions across the UK and globally, has launched a 12-month no-charge promotion for all services at its new Ghana internet exchange point (IXP), LINX Accra.

BDx Data Centers, an owner and operator of data centres in Asia, has announced the successful close of a US$320 million loan facility, marking what it calls a major milestone in the company’s commitment to building world-class digital infrastructure across Asia.

Hitachi and its IT managed services arm Hitachi Systems have signed an MoU with Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) to develop and operate “floating data centres” (FDCs) converted from second-hand ships.

ORAN Development Corporation (ODC) has secured $45 million in Series A funding to accelerate deployment of its AI-native radio access network (RAN) platform and expand commercial engagements.

EdgeConneX says it has formed a strategic partnership with Latin American water stewardship platform Kilimo to improve water efficiency for farmers in Chile’s Maipo River Basin, as well as its data centre operations in Santiago.