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President Cyril Ramaphosa with Microsoft president and vice chairman Brad Smith Microsoft president Brad Smith has announced during a visit to Johannesburg that the US software giant will invest R5.4-billion in new data centre infrastructure in South Africa. The new data centres will be built for artificial intelligent workloads, Smith announced at an industry event on Thursday attended by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Smith, who also serves as vice chairman of Microsoft, said the company has spent more than R20-billion to date on its Azure data centres in South Africa. The new data centre infrastructure will include a big investment in AI infrastructure, populated with GPUs, or graphics processing units, he said. Digital skills “South Africa is getting more than its share [of GPUs] because it’s a reflection of how this can be put to use here, and through the rest of Africa as a whole.” At the same event, Smith announced Microsoft will sponsor the development of 50 000 people in high-demand digital skills. The people will earn technical certifications. Read: Microsoft’s eye-popping data centre investment plans A spokeswoman for Microsoft South Africa said more details about the new data centre investments will be available in the coming weeks. Speak at the same event, Ramaphosa welcomed the planned investment and said Microsoft is “actively working to empower young people with skills for the digital economy”. Brad Smith The president said Microsoft’s “longstanding presence in South Africa” — it has been in the country for more than 30 years — is a “vote of confidence in our economy”. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media Get breaking news from TechCentral on WhatsApp. Sign up here . Don’t miss: Microsoft data centre leases slowing, analysts say
