Africa trails as global tech race accelerates - Experts warn

African organisations are steadily moving from dabbling in new technology to rolling out structured digital strategies aimed at driving growth, industry leaders have said.

CIO Africa chairman Harry Hare noted that the continent currently boasts about 300 megawatts of data centre capacity, with South Africa commanding roughly 240MW, leaving the remaining capacity shared across East, West and North Africa.

He added that cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity are now the most widely adopted technologies; an indication that the continent is shifting from experimental innovation to more mature, results-driven digital transformation.

However, experts warn that Africa still lags significantly behind global pacesetters.

According to the experts, African countries are operating at about 1% of the global digital benchmark, even as nations like Saudi Arabia pour massive investments - over USD 1.6 billion - into AI and the construction of data centres powered by U.S. technology.

East Africa Data Centre Managing Director Dan Kwach cautioned that such heavy external investment risks placing Africa in a position of reliance.

He warned that unless the continent takes a leading role in AI implementation, performance indicators tied to these technologies will inevitably be shaped and controlled by those investing now.

These insights emerged during the ongoing 17th annual CIO Africa Colloquium in Naivasha, where new data also revealed that only 15% of organisations on the continent have fully adopted modern digital systems, despite the rapid pace of global technological change.