US government pushes $26B in African data center deals as digital infrastructure race heats up

The US is making an aggressive play for Africa’s data center market, engineering a wave of public-private partnerships aimed at planting American digital infrastructure across the continent. The effort pits Washington directly against Beijing in what amounts to a high-stakes geopolitical chess match, with computing power and energy access as the pieces on the board. What’s actually on the table The headline number is $26 billion in deals facilitated through Trump administration partnerships with US companies. While the full scope of that figure is difficult to independently verify across individual projects, several major initiatives are already well underway. Microsoft and UAE-based G42 are building a $1 billion geothermal-powered AI data center in Kenya, with operations expected to come online by May 2026. The geothermal angle is notable: Kenya sits on the East African Rift, one of the planet’s most potent geothermal energy sources, giving it a natural advantage for power-hungry computing facilities. Cassava Technologies, meanwhile, has committed up to $720 million for AI data centers integrating Nvidia technology. The first phase, featuring 3,000 GPUs, is set to launch in South ...