Nigeria is rapidly transforming into the primary digital infrastructure hub for West Africa. According to the latest 2026 data, the market is shifting from “discussion” to “aggressive build-out,” with the total data center market size expected to reach $374 million in 2026 and surge to over $782 million by 2031.
With global giants like Equinix and Digital Realty leading the charge, Lagos has become the epicenter of this expansion, driven by subsea cable landings, data sovereignty laws, and a booming startup ecosystem.
The Infrastructure Surge: By the Numbers
The scale of construction currently underway is unprecedented in the Nigerian real estate and tech sectors.
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Installed vs. Planned Capacity: As of early 2026, Nigeria’s installed capacity sits between 65–86 MW, but is projected to skyrocket to over 400 MW within the next 3–5 years as “Mega Campuses” come online.
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The “Power” Players: 21st Century Technologies and Digital Realty (Medallion) currently account for approximately 65% of the upcoming power capacity in the country.
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Investment Benchmark: Building a high-end Tier III data center in Nigeria now costs between $10 million and $15 million per MW of IT load.
Key Market Leaders & Projects (2026 Update)
| Operator | Strategic Move / Project | Capacity/Status |
| Equinix (MainOne) | Opening of the LG3 facility in Lagos (Q1 2026). | Part of a $100M Africa drive. |
| Airtel Africa (Nxtra) | Developing a massive 38 MW facility at Eko Atlantic. | One of the largest in West Africa. |
| MTN Nigeria | Construction of a 1,500-rack Tier III data center. | Targeting 14 MW total capacity. |
| Rack Centre | Significant expansion of their LGS1 and LGS2 campus. | Carrier-neutral leader. |
| OADC | New 24 MW facility in Ilasan, Lagos. | 12 MW Phase 1 live in 2026. |
The “Edge” Challenge: Moving Beyond Lagos
While Lagos holds over 70% of the country’s data capacity, experts warn that this concentration is a bottleneck. To achieve a $1 trillion economy by 2030, industry leaders like Digital Realty suggest Nigeria needs at least 72 edge data centers—at least two in every state—to ensure inclusive connectivity and low-latency processing for AI and IoT.
2026 Market Dynamics
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The AI & GPU Revolution: 2026 is seeing the rise of GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS), with revenues expected to quadruple. This is forcing operators to build “AI-ready” facilities with specialized cooling for high-performance computing.
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Subsea Connectivity: The landing of the 2Africa and Equiano cables has significantly reduced the cost of international bandwidth, making local hosting more attractive than offshore cloud regions.
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Regulatory Push: NITDA’s data localization guidelines are forcing banks, telcos, and government agencies to move data from foreign servers to local Tier III and Tier IV facilities.
Industry Note: Nigeria’s grid only produces ~6,000 MW against a demand of 100,000 MW. This forces data centers to invest roughly $1 million per MW just in dedicated power generation (gas/diesel) to ensure 99.9% uptime.
