Kenya’s Special Tech Envoy, Amb Philip Thigo.
By Willy Lusige
Thigo clarified that President Ruto’s comments were not a signal that the project had been halted, but rather an acknowledgement of the urgent need to expand Kenya’s electricity generation to support large-scale digital infrastructure.
The Microsoft-G42 project, announced during President Ruto’s May 2024 visit to Washington, remains a major part of Kenya’s ambition to position itself as East Africa’s leading hub for cloud computing, artificial intelligence and advanced digital services.
President Ruto had noted that Kenya’s current installed electricity capacity of about 3,000 megawatts would be insufficient to power the massive facility without placing pressure on the national grid, highlighting the need for expanded generation.
According to Thigo, the government remains committed to increasing national power capacity to at least 10,000 megawatts by 2030 to support such transformative investments.
Kenya’s abundant renewable energy resources, particularly geothermal power, which accounts for a significant share of the national grid, continue to strengthen the country’s appeal to global technology investors despite existing infrastructure challenges.
The clarification comes amid growing competition across Africa to attract hyperscale data centres as demand for cloud services and AI infrastructure rises.
Thigo maintained that the Microsoft-G42 project remains firmly on course, stressing that Kenya’s focus is on building the energy systems needed to sustain ambitious digital transformation and long-term economic growth.
This comes ahead of the forthcoming Africa Forward Summit 2026 in Nairobi in May, where artificial intelligence will be framed not just as a frontier technology, but as a test of Africa’s capacity to power and scale its digital future.
With chronic power shortages threatening to stall innovation, leaders are expected to confront the urgent need for resilient energy systems alongside the rapid expansion of data centres, which are critical to unlocking compute capacity and anchoring AI ecosystems Citizen Digital
