Sylvia Duruson
Oracle has revealed plans to launch a new public cloud region located in Nairobi, Kenya, marking the technology firm’s second major investment in cloud infrastructure across Africa. The announcement comes on the heels of rival Google Cloud unveiling its first facilities on the continent in Johannesburg.
Kenya’s capital city was selected by Oracle to meet rapidly rising demand for cloud services in both East Africa and beyond. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) will provide Kenyan organizations and global companies operating in the region with low-latency access to Oracle’s suite of over 100 integrated cloud offerings.
Oracle executives shared news of the Nairobi cloud project with Kenyan government leadership including President William Ruto. In a joint statement, the parties emphasized Oracle’s commitment to supporting Kenya’s digital transformation through job creation and enabling next generation technologies.
“We aim to accelerate innovation across crucial sectors like education and healthcare by making breakthrough capabilities like AI more accessible to African developers and businesses,” said Scott Twaddle, SVP of Product Development at OCI.
Oracle intends to leverage Kenya’s extensive renewable energy infrastructure and connectivity to submarine cables and terrestrial networks. By establishing cloud services locally, Oracle can deliver maximum performance, security and redundancy for African consumers.
The Nairobi public cloud center represents a vote of confidence in Kenya’s ambition to become a nexus for technology growth on the continent. President Ruto has actively campaigned for multinational corporations to set up operations in the East African nation, citing advantageous conditions for the tech industry.
“If you establish roots in Kenya, your African footprint is guaranteed,” Ruto remarked on a recent visit to court U.S. investment in the country.
The planned Oracle facility will be the second public cloud region Kenya hosts after Amazon Web Services launched the AWS Africa Region in Nairobi in 2022. Microsoft Azure also provides cloud services across much of Africa from South Africa.
Oracle opened its first African cloud region in Johannesburg in January 2022 and has emphasized additional investments in data centers and infrastructure will follow. Cloud regions enable providers to offer lower latency and localized offerings that align with country-specific data regulations.
With Oracle’s forthcoming expansion into Kenya, major hyperscalers are recognizing Africa’s underserved market that is primed for digitization across sectors like finance, agriculture and e-commerce. As connectivity and data consumption grows exponentially across the continent, demand for cloud access will only intensify.
