Key topics:
- Microsoft to invest R5.4bn in SA to expand AI and cloud capacity.
- 50,000 youth to receive digital skills certification in the next year.
- President Ramaphosa hails investment as a vote of confidence in SA.
Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.
Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.
If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.
By Loni Prinsloo, S’thembile Cele and Rivaldo Jantjies___STEADY_PAYWALL___
Microsoft Corp. will invest an additional 5.4 billion rand ($297 million) in South Africa by the end of 2027 to expand its cloud and artificial intelligence capacity in the country.
Vice Chairman Brad Smith made the announcement at an event in Johannesburg on Thursday, ahead of an upcoming South African investment conference.
The pledge adds to 20.4 billion rand that Microsoft has already invested in Africa’s most industrialized nation, and should give the economy a welcome boost.
The company said the money would pay for 50,000 young people’s certification exams in digital skills over the next 12 months to help “foster innovation, economic growth, and workforce development.”
South Africa is seeking to shore up private investment in the country to accelerate economic growth that has averaged less than 1% annually for more than a decade.
The US technology giant was one of the first big tech companies to build data centers in South Africa. Others, such as Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google have followed.
Microsoft already has data centers in Johannesburg and Cape Town, and last year said it would also build new capacity in Centurion in South Africa’s province of Gauteng. In Kenya, Microsoft has agreed to build a $1 billion geothermal-powered data center.
“Microsoft’s investment signals to the business and investor community that South Africa’s economy continues to hold immense potential and that it is a favorable place to do business where their investments are secure,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said. “This company really has an African heart.”
Read also:
- đź”’ Microsoft invests $10 Billion in ChatGPT maker OpenAI
- đź”’ AI Chatbot race between Microsoft, Google is loaded with risk
- đź”’ Microsoft Cloud expansion limited by data centre shortage
© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.
