To grab a piece of Lagos’ booming market for data centers–projected at 80 megawatts by 2027—-global investors are pouring money into Victoria Island and Lekki Peninsula, the two most affluent neighborhoods of the city. Lagos Island, which is located near eight submarine internet cables and has a capacity of 200MW, is poised to become Africa’s largest data center hub. The scramble to secure Lagos’ coastline shows both the benefits and the pitfalls of betting on Africa’s fragmented data industry.
Data can travel faster if a data center has a close proximity to a submarine landing station (CLS). This reduces delays. To improve speed and efficiency, coastal data centers are built close to these landing stations. Ayotunde Koker, CEO of Open Access Data Centre, said that they also serve as backup hubs to keep networks running, even if inland links go down.
According to Coker, “It’s the availability of infrastructure as well as proximity to landing stations and standard site selection parameters that make investors elect to build data centers in Victoria Island,” Coker said to TechCabal.
Google’s Equiano submarine cables, with a massive bandwidth of up to 144 terabits/second (Tbps), land directly at OADC’s Tier III-certified carrier-neutral facility located in Lekki. MainOne’s 10 Tbps submarine cable is also directly connected to MDXi, MainOne’s Tier III-certified data center in Lekki.
Nigeria’s eight submarine cable systems, including Google’s Equiano and 2Africa, land along the Lagos Island coast. They connect to terrestrial fiber-optic network for broader distribution.
10 The 16 data centers in Nigeria have already been concentrated around Victoria Island, Lekki and Eko Atlantic City. Operators are racing to increase capacity. The projects under construction include Equinix’s 20MW facility as well as Kasi’s 5MW data center, Nxtra By Airtel’s 38MW facility and Open Access Data Centre’s 24MW facility. All are scheduled to be completed by 2027. The addition of these new data centers to the ongoing developments in Nigeria will increase Nigeria’s capacity from 64MW up to 200MW. These facilities will reduce delays by bringing data processing close to users. This will improve the performance of cloud computing, streaming, and gaming online. The increased capacity of the network will also improve reliability, minimizing downtimes and ensuring a more stable connection.
Water, power, and urbanisation.
Lagos’ improved power infrastructure is attracting investors not only because of its connectivity. Victoria Island and Lekki, as key urban hubs are designated “Band A”ensuring 20 to 24-hours of electricity per day, which is critical for data center operations.
Wole Abu is the managing director of Equinix West Africa. He said that the power infrastructure in Lekki Corridor, today and in future, will be more robust than in other parts of Lagos.
Another good reason to choose coastal areas is the availability of water for cooling systems. This prevents overheating, and maintains efficiency. Data centers worldwide consumed 309 million gallons per day in 2023 — enough to supply 3.3 millions people. This demand is expected to rise to 468million gallons per day by 2030, as more AI-driven centers emerge.
The increasing investments in Lagos’s data centres reflect a global urbanization trend. Recent Bank of America Institute research identified urbanization, aging population, and changing consumer behavior as key factors driving digital infrastructure expansion. The United Nations estimates that by 2050 about 66% of global population will be living in cities. This figure will rise to 87% for developed nations. Asia and Africa are responsible for 90% of this urban expansion.
Eko Atlantic is one of the ultra-urban zones. It is envisioned as an advanced smart city with high-rise buildings and luxury real estate. It also has advanced flood protection systems. Although it is still under construction, the area has attracted significant data center investments. It hosts two hyperscale facilities – Africa Data Centres’ Tier 3 data center and Nxtra By Airtel.
If investors can navigate the tide, Lagos’ coastline will remain the hottest ticket for now.
