“In Ivory Coast, the battle for digital sovereignty is entering a new phase. ST Digital, a young company aiming to be a key player in the African cloud industry, will soon inaugurate its very first datacenter in Ivory Coast, located in the VITIB zone of Grand-Bassam. This Tier III strategic infrastructure is designed as the cornerstone of a sovereign cloud ecosystem in Francophone Africa.
This opening will complement ST Digital’s DataCenter Infrastructure footprint in Africa, following Cameroon and preceding Gabon. As a reminder, ST Digital’s projected network is as follows:
A flagship project for a growing market
Announced for the last quarter of 2025, the inauguration of ST Digital’s datacenter is seen as a strategic turning point for Francophone Africa. A “turning point” that the group’s founder, Anthony Same, envisions as continental. “It’s not just about importing technology, but about designing infrastructure adapted to the realities of our markets, with our own human resources and standards,” explains Steve Tchouaga, General Manager of the Ivorian subsidiary.
The ambition is clear: to provide a sovereign infrastructure, interconnected with other planned centers in Cameroon, Gabon, Togo, Guinea, and Senegal, capable of meeting the growing needs for cloud, AI, and cybersecurity. On paper, the goal aligns with the World Bank’s recommendations, which estimated in 2023 that “Africa only has 1% of global data center capacity, compared to 53% for North America.”
An Africa lacking infrastructure but overconnected
While the demand is exploding – Internet traffic in Africa is expected to multiply by 6 by 2030 – solutions remain scarce and costly. In 2024, the African data center market was worth barely $3.5 billion, less than 1% of the global market estimated at $386 billion USD.
A public-private partnership that becomes necessary
On the institutional side, the signal is well received. Florence Fadika, advisor at the Ministry of Digital Transition, emphasizes that “the State cannot bear digital sovereignty alone: the private sector must support this movement.” The Ivorian government has just completed its national strategy on artificial intelligence and data, with a focus on standardizing management practices, enhancing the skills of local actors, and providing tax incentives for local hosting.
African data hosting… in Africa, a sovereign bet… but against the current?
The promise is enticing, but the reality remains rougher. In the world of data centers, the race for volume is paramount.
“With this datacenter, the group aims to address a dual urgency: reduce dependence on foreign platforms (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud) while reassuring local institutions and businesses about the integrity, availability, and jurisdiction of their critical data. The challenge goes beyond simple technical hosting, as it touches on the continent’s ability to control its data flows, build local economic models, and train the talents that will drive this new digital architecture.”
In this logic, ST Digital positions itself with a proximity sovereignty, designed for African administrations and SMEs with an agile model: modular infrastructure, optimized energy consumption, services tailored to local SMEs. “We are not seeking to replicate the giants, but to develop an African, hybrid, frugal, endogenous model,” explains Steve Tchouaga.
A Pan-African group with international standards
The future datacenter is shaping up to be a turning point. ST Digital’s ambitions are to make this infrastructure a lever for local innovation, not just a hosting center. “And for that, ST Digital will have to demonstrate its ability to attract AI developers, host critical private and public services, and compete with the offerings of Google or Oracle, already active in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Furthermore, ST Digital’s project incorporates an eco-responsible dimension. “Unlike many foreign players who favor traditional energy practices, ST Digital integrates energy solutions, ensuring optimized and sustainable resource management for each project,” explains Steve Tchouaga. “We make energy transition a priority, with innovative technologies that reduce the ecological footprint of projects while ensuring optimal data performance. This commitment reflects not only our mission of digital sovereignty, but also our responsibility towards a sustainable future for Africa and the world.”
For ST Digital, the motto is simple: Sky is not your limit… Your mind is.”
