African data center operator Raxio Group is planning to launch Tanzania’s first carrier-neutral, Tier III data center, on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, this year. The data center, dubbed TZ1, will house 800 racks across a 4,000-square-meter footprint. The facility will have an IT capacity of 6 MW and the ability to create bespoke environments if required.
The data center is the latest to arrive in the second-largest economy in the East African Community. Aside from TZ1, there are 11 data centers in Tanzania as the government and private sector work to meet increased demand for digital infrastructure as digitalization improves.
“We’re seeing the same attractiveness as in our other six markets. Tanzania also shows very good connectivity, it has very high carrier capacity which is growing dramatically, we also see a very strong financial sector, and we have access to power. All of which are signs for us that now would be a good time to expand into Tanzania, which is something we have been planning for three to four years,” Robert Skjodt, Raxio Group Chief Executive Officer, told CNBC Africa.
The Tanzanian government has been on a push to transform its digital economy in order to realize its socioeconomic goals. In 2024, the government published the Digital Economy Strategic Framework 2024-2034, which included provisions to create a conducive environment for ICT infrastructure development.
The country also benefits from the SEACOM and EASSy subsea cables that connect it to other parts of the African continent, Europe, and Asia.
The TZ1 data center will leverage that connectivity, enabling IP transit for Tanzania’s landlocked neighbors, including Rwanda, Burundi, and Zambia. It will also be beneficial for Raxio Group, which has a presence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique, which border Tanzania.
The company said in a press release that with expanded capacity coming online it has signed six times as many power contracts in the first half of 2026 as it did in 2025. The firm also expects demand from future projects to top 10 MW.
“Demand for high-quality data centre infrastructure continues to accelerate across Africa, driven by rapid digital adoption, cloud migration and the emergence of significant AI workloads,” said Skjodt.
The company also reports that its funding pool has increased to US$ 380 million as shareholders Meridiam and Roha increased their support for the company’s next phase of growth, which has seen demand grow sixfold this year. These funds will be used to support the firm’s expansion as higher-performance computing and AI workloads require denser racks.
Raxio’s move lands as demand for AI-ready capacity accelerates across the continent. Mordor Intelligence values the Middle East and Africa AI data center market at US$ 2.51 billion in 2026 and forecasts it will reach US$ 8.24 billion by 2031. Frontier markets like Tanzania are still building out foundational colocation capacity, and the demand Skjodt is betting on is just starting to take shape.