Lagos State government plans to increase the city's data centre capacity to more than 250 megawatts (MW) by 2030, according to Olatubosun Alake, commissioner for innovation, science, and technology. The expansion was announced at the launch of the Kasi Cloud LOS1 data centre facility in Lekki, where Alake stated that Lagos already hosts nearly three-quarters of Nigeria's commercial data centre capacity. The growth is being driven by surging demand for cloud services, AI computing power, and local data storage across Nigeria's digital economy, with approximately 146 MW of additional data centre capacity currently in the pipeline. Lagos is home to one of Africa's largest startup ecosystems, valued at more than $15 billion, and the state is positioning itself as a major centre for digital infrastructure and AI computing beyond its startup hub reputation.
Kasi Cloud LOS1 Facility Specifications
The Kasi Cloud LOS1 facility is designed as a 40MW hyperscale data centre campus, beginning operations with an initial 7.2MW IT load. According to Alake, the facility includes advanced GPU computing infrastructure powered by Nvidia H100 and H200 chips, alongside liquid cooling systems and cloud infrastructure services designed to support AI workloads. Kasi Cloud co-founder and chief executive officer Johnson Agbogun described the Lekki campus as "the beginning of Nigeria's AI factory," emphasizing the facility's role in reducing Nigeria's dependence on foreign cloud infrastructure and giving African businesses more control over their data and AI systems development.
Investment and Market Context
Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), the manager of Nigeria's Sovereign Wealth Fund, invested in Kasi Cloud through a US$8 million convertible loan note. Kolawole Owodunni, NSIA's Executive Director and Chief Information Officer, stated that "as artificial intelligence reshapes economies globally, the nations that control their own compute infrastructure and data will be the ones positioned to lead." According to research firm Arizton Advisory & Intelligence, Nigeria is projected to become Africa's fastest-growing data centre investment market, with annual investments expected to hit nearly $770 million by 2031. Agbogun noted that Nigerian enterprises are currently spending $850 million every year on foreign cloud infrastructure, framing the investment as critical infrastructure for retaining local economic value.
Operational Challenges
Data centre operators in Lagos face significant hurdles, including energy costs that have surged by 64.1% since January 2026, unstable national electricity generation hovering between 3,000MW and 4,000MW, foreign exchange volatility, and cooling systems that consume nearly 40% of total energy costs. Building hyperscale facilities also requires significant long-term capital investments and stable connectivity infrastructure.
Infrastructure Investment Plans
The Lagos government is investing in fibre optic networks, smart city technologies, university innovation programmes, and digital government systems to support data centre expansion. Alake stated that "the AI economy is going to require hundreds [of megawatts]" and emphasized that "Lagos is not coming. It is already here."
