The Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, Microsoft Corporation and G42 on Friday signed a letter of Intent (LOI) on co-operation in development of digital projects to support economic development for comprehensive digital ecosystem initiatives, worth USD 1 billion.
The signing of this LOI will be part of President William Ruto’s state visit to the USA and marks a significant milestone, outlining a comprehensive framework for co-operation in a series of activities to support economic development, access to technology, critical skilling and sustainability in Kenya.
Furthermore, the signing of the LOI will lay the foundation for the development of state-of-the-art Green Data Centre by G42 and Olkaria Eco cloud Data Centre (a local partner that recently signed an MOU with G42) with the potential to significantly enhance Kenya’s digital infrastructure capacity and resilience.
According to a press statement, the Data Centre, with a future capacity of up to 1 Gigawatt, capable of serving millions of users, is fundamental to shaping Kenya’s digital future and will run on and provide access to Microsoft Azure through a new East Africa Cloud Region, which will become operational within 24 months of the signing of definitive agreements.
This cloud region will provide customers access to scalable, secure, high speed cloud and AI services to accelerate cloud adoption and the digital transformation of businesses, customers and partners across Kenya and East Africa.
Also, the initiative will include four additional pillars that will be pursued with local partners: (1) local-language AI model development and research; (2) an East Africa Innovation Lab 2 coupled with broad AI digital skills training; (3) international and local connectivity investments; and (4) collaboration with the Government of Kenya to support safe and secure cloud services across East Africa.
By Michael Omondi
