ST Digital to Launch Côte d’Ivoire’s First Sovereign Tier III Data Center
ST Digital , a start-up that aims to be a leading player in the African cloud, will soon inaugurate its very first datacenter in Côte d’Ivoire, located in the VITIB area of Grand-Bassam. A strategic Tier III infrastructure, designed as the first stone of a sovereign cloud ecosystem in French-speaking Africa.
This is the concept of digital sovereignty, and it is the raison d’être of ST Digital. The company’s vocation is to campaign for a real paradigm shift, by developing local infrastructures to guarantee real digital autonomy and prevent Africa from depending on foreign services.
This opening will complete the footprint of ST Digital’s DataCenter infrastructures in Africa after Cameroon and before Gabon.
A flagship project for an awakening market
Announced for the last quarter of 2025, the inauguration of ST Digital’s datacenter is presented as a strategic turning point for French-speaking Africa — a turning point that the group’s founder, Anthony Same, wants to be continental.
“It’s not just a question of importing technology, but of designing an infrastructure adapted to the realities of our markets, with our own human resources and our own standards.”
– Steve Tchouaga, Managing Director, Ivorian subsidiary
The ambition is clear: to provide a sovereign infrastructure, interconnected to other planned centers in Cameroon, Gabon, Togo, Guinea and Senegal, capable of meeting the growing needs for cloud, AI and cybersecurity. On paper, the goal is aligned with the recommendations of the World Bank, which estimated in 2023 that “Africa has only 1% of the world’s data center capacity, compared to 53% for North America.”
An Africa lacking infrastructure but overconnected
While needs are exploding — Internet traffic in Africa is expected to increase sixfold by 2030 — solutions remain rare and expensive. In 2024, the African data center market was worth just $3.5 billion, less than 1% of the estimated $386 billion global market.
African companies are therefore often forced to host their data in Frankfurt, Paris or Dubai. This is a paradox for a continent that has one of the most dynamic digital growth rates in the world (+40% per year on mobile data).
The installed energy capacity of African data centers is projected to increase from 780 MW in 2025 to more than 1,400 MW in 2030, an annual growth rate of more than 12%.
Hosting African data… in Africa, a sovereign bet… but against the tide?
The promise is seductive, but the reality remains rougher. In the world of data centers, the race for volumes is king.
“Sovereignty requires security, but also performance. We need to prove that African data centers can be as robust as those of large platforms.”
– Stéphane Chapperon, Expert, Grant Thornton
A confidential but strategic dinner brought together about thirty public and private decision-makers around the theme: African Cloud: innovation, sovereignty and competitiveness. It was an opportunity for ST Digital to test its vision with its future partners – and to mark its territory.
With this data center, the group wants to respond to a double emergency: to reduce dependence on foreign platforms (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud) while reassuring local institutions and companies about the integrity, availability and jurisdiction of their critical data. The issue goes beyond simple technical hosting: it concerns the continent’s ability to control its data flows, to build local economic models and to train the talents who will carry this new digital architecture.
With this in mind, ST Digital is positioning itself with local sovereignty, designed for African administrations and SMEs with an agile model: modular infrastructure, optimised energy consumption, services adapted to local SMEs.
“We are not trying to replicate the giants, but to bring out an African, hybrid, frugal, endogenous model.”
– Steve Tchouaga, Managing Director, Ivorian subsidiary
A public-private alliance that is becoming necessary
On the institutional side, the signal is well received. Florence Fadika, advisor to the Ministry of Digital Transition, notes that the State will not be able to carry digital sovereignty alone: the private sector must support this movement. The Ivorian government has just completed its national strategy on artificial intelligence and data, with an emphasis on the standardization of management practices, the increase in the skills of local actors and the implementation of tax incentives for local accommodation.
A public-private alignment is becoming a necessity.
“We need a complete ecosystem: schools, researchers, companies. Otherwise, we will remain consumers of models designed elsewhere, for other realities.”
– Roger Adom, former Ivorian Minister, Digital Affairs and Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on digital economy issues
A Pan-African group with international standards
The future data center is shaping up to be a tipping point. ST Digital’s ambitions are to make this infrastructure a lever for local innovation, not just a hosting center, according to one expert.
And to do this, ST Digital will have to demonstrate its ability to attract AI developers, host critical private and public services, and compete with the offerings of Google or Oracle, which are already active in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, ST Digital’s project has an eco-responsible dimension.
“Unlike many foreign players who favor traditional energy practices, ST Digital integrates energy solutions, ensuring optimized and sustainable management of resources for each project. We are making the energy transition a priority, with innovative technologies that reduce the ecological footprint of projects while ensuring optimal data performance. This commitment reflects not only our mission of digital sovereignty, but also our responsibility towards a sustainable future for Africa and the world.”
– Steve Tchouaga, Managing Director, Ivorian subsidiary
