The inauguration of ST Digital's data center in Grand-Bassam marks a key milestone for digital sovereignty and the Ivorian digital economy.
It is well known that data is the primary resource of the 21st century. To store it, data centers are required, and a new one has been inaugurated in Côte d'Ivoire. After the first stone laying ceremony on 22 November 2024, the ST Digital Group proceeded to inaugurate its Tier III data centre at VITIB on 2 October 2025.
No data center, no digital economy
"Without a data centre, there is no digital economy. Without local data centres, our data ends up hosted abroad. This exposes our nations to risks of technological dependency and strategic vulnerability. With this type of infrastructure (ST Digital), we are making the choice of digital sovereignty by ensuring that Ivorian data is stored, processed, and protected on our soil," said the Director of Digital Transformation and Digitalisation, Olivier Avoa, on Thursday, 2 October 2025, at the inauguration of the data centre of the African group ST Digital, at VITIB in Grand-Bassam.
ST Digital data center specifications
This data centre, according to the chief executive of the owning company, Steve Tchouaga, is Tier III type. It comprises three modules with a capacity of approximately 160 racks of 42 servers each, representing more than 6,000 physical servers and more than 50,000 virtual servers. It "is eco-responsible, built in part with local materials, in integration with our environment", added Steve Tchouaga. Furthermore, it is 100% African. The architecture is the work of two Ivorian firms (CATD by Thierry Dogbo and AED by Marcel Sewanou), the technical study is the work of African firm OPTIMA, and the construction was entrusted to the company DTECH. Only the supervision of the works, which lasted 8 months, was entrusted to the international company APL.
At the origin of this infrastructure lies an observation: most private and public stakeholders store their data abroad. As a solution, ST Digital states that it decided to embark on this project for "the construction of our digital sovereignty". Worth noting: sovereignty is not a technical matter, since Africa does not manufacture servers and other equipment anyway. It is rather a question of governance. And sovereignty does not mean closing oneself off from the world. On the contrary, one must reach out to others and bring them back home.
Digital sovereignty through data centers
"Thanks to this tool, a significant share of our digital patriotism will be restored. Thanks to this tool, our digital momentum will take on a new dimension. And with digitalization developing and cyberattacks constantly reinventing themselves, having our own infrastructure protects us," said the group's CEO, Anthony Same.
For him, the ST Digital data centre serves public administration, businesses, start-ups, and national projects. It will locally host data and applications with full security, in strict compliance with national regulations. Beyond that, it should enable the development of new national skills, rare digital expertise on the market, and create hundreds of direct and indirect jobs.
"Data centers have become the new cathedrals of the digital economy. They are what make possible the digital services we depend on: e-government, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, fintech, e-commerce, social networks, etc.," recalled the CEO of digital transformation and digitalisation.
The proof in numbers: 8,000 data centres, of which nearly 2,700 are in the United States, 600 in Europe and fewer than 200 in Africa (80 in 2020, representing a growth of 2.5%), with 300 billion dollars per year, Africa's share amounting to 7 billion dollars.
20 data centers in Côte d'Ivoire
In this major technological boom, Côte d'Ivoire has 20 data centres. "We can say 10% of Africa's data centres. Which is not so bad, even if we need to go further and faster. It is worth investing," says Olivier Avoa. Furthermore, according to him, Côte d'Ivoire is gradually giving itself the means to achieve its digital ambitions of becoming a technology hub in Africa. Indeed, the country currently has connectivity with the landing of 6 submarine cables, etc., and is working on the construction of its national data centre.
Furthermore, he plans to build the City of Innovation and Culture, to launch a national supercomputer dedicated to artificial intelligence and scientific research. "We are thus laying the foundations to ensure that the benefits of this technological revolution in which we are engaged serve our populations, our startups and businesses in the creation of innovative digital services. I therefore wish to commend the boldness of the ST Digital group, whose investment reflects renewed confidence in the digital future of Côte d'Ivoire", concluded the representative of Minister Ibrahim Kalil Konaté.