Nxtra CEO Yash Issur on the Future of Hyperscale in Africa

Africa's data centre market is entering a new phase, and Nxtra wants to lead it.

The Airtel-owned operator is pursuing hyperscale campuses designed to support AI workloads, cloud growth and digital sovereignty across the continent.

Speaking with BizClik Studio at Data Centre LIVE, Yashnath Issur, CEO at Nxtra, outlined the company's ambition to bring the experience it has developed in India to Africa, beginning with major developments in Nigeria, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

"We're mandated to develop data centre infrastructure across our markets outside India," Yash said.

The company is initially targeting three core markets, with projects already under way in Nigeria, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), while also pursuing edge data centre deployments across all 14 Airtel Africa markets.

Building hyperscale for Africa

Nxtra's strategy centres on bringing large-scale, hyperscale-ready infrastructure to regions where capacity has historically been more limited.

"I think in Africa, the concept of scale was missing," Yash said.

He explained that Nxtra's experience building facilities for hyperscalers, alongside almost two decades working across the US, Europe, Latin America and Africa, has shaped its approach.

"A lot of what we build caters for AI capacity, for high-density capacity, which for many reasons wasn't there in our markets."

Yash believes that demonstrating hyperscale capability will encourage more international operators and cloud providers to invest across the continent.

Lagos grows beyond its original plans

One of the clearest examples of that ambition is Lagos.

Originally announced as a 22MW IT facility, the project has already expanded significantly.

Yash emphasised: "Our latest design is now at 38-megawatt." 

He argued that Nigeria's population, combined with growing demand for local cloud services, makes larger developments increasingly viable.

"I believe this isn't just a capacity play – at least from my perspective, it's also a sovereignty play."

Yash expects more workloads to remain within national borders as governments and organisations prioritise sovereign cloud capacity.

He also believes the market will grow rapidly.

"Frankly, we believe this will easily grow to the tune of 100–200 megawatts just for that market," he said.

Alongside scale, he said reliable power remains central to Nxtra's strategy, with investment focused on delivering high availability and the cleanest energy mix possible.

Kenya anchors East Africa ambitions

Kenya forms the second pillar of Nxtra's expansion plans.

The company is planning a 44MW facility in Nairobi, chosen for both its renewable energy availability and its role as a gateway into East Africa.

"The reason we believe a lot in Kenya is also to support the whole Eastern African region," Yash said.

He added that customer demand, government support and access to renewable electricity have accelerated the project.

"Kenya is just a start, and we're going to get to that level of 200–300 megawatts of capacity with Nxtra alone in the short term."

Creating opportunity alongside infrastructure

While the campuses are designed for hyperscale customers, Yashnath said that their impact extends beyond digital infrastructure.

"What it means for people, I think, is opportunity."

He pointed to efforts to attract experienced professionals back to African markets while developing local talent capable of operating globally.

"My core mandate is to deliver in Africa, to deliver the kind of infrastructure that isn't there, at a level of quality expected globally."

For now, Nxtra's focus is firmly on delivering the physical foundations for cloud and AI growth before expanding further into higher-value digital services.