Microsoft halts construction of major data center in Kenya

Microsoft's project to build a major data center in Kenya has been halted due to disagreements over financial guarantees. According to Bloomberg, Microsoft and its partner G42 were unable to reach a compromise with the Kenyan government regarding payment terms. This is reported by Ixbt.com reports .

The main conflict between the parties arose around the scheme of guaranteed annual payments for computing power to be purchased by the state. The Kenyan government refused to accept the financial terms proposed by Microsoft.

As a reminder, in May 2024, the parties reached an agreement to invest $1 billion to expand cloud infrastructure in East Africa. The project envisioned building a modern center powered by geothermal energy and connected to the Azure cloud platform.

While negotiations have not been completely terminated, the scope of the project may be revised. Kenyan officials state that dialogue is ongoing and critical parameters such as energy consumption and center configuration are still in the negotiation phase.