The reported stalling of Kenya’s $1 billion Microsoft-G42 data centre project is more than a local infrastructure story. It is a window into one of the most important realities of the AI era: artificial intelligence is not only a software revolution. It is an infrastructure race. In 2024, Microsoft and G42 announced a major digital ecosystem initiative in Kenya. The package included a green data centre, a new Azure East Africa cloud region, local-language AI research, AI skil