Ivory Coast Builds First State-Owned Data Center

The Government of Ivory Coast is constructing its first state-owned data center, scheduled to open next year, as part of a strategic effort to modernize public services and enhance national cybersecurity. The project represents a shift toward state ownership of critical digital infrastructure, reducing the nation's reliance on private operators such as MTN Group Ltd. and Orange Côte d’Ivoire SA.

The facility is being built by the Cybastion Institute of Technology LLC. It is funded through a $170 million financing package backed by the US Export-Import Bank, with approximately $66 million specifically allocated for the center. Technical specifications for the site include 1.73 megawatts of capacity, 228 IT racks, and 10 petabytes of storage to provide cloud hosting and connectivity for government data.

This initiative is a component of a larger $209 billion national development plan for 2026-2030. The broader plan aims to transition the country into an upper-middle-income economy through large-scale digitalization and infrastructure investment.