Municipal authorities in Cape Town have approved a major land proposal for U.S.-listed giant Equinix to construct two data centres in the King Air Industria industrial precinct.
The approval from municipal authorities allows Equinix to move forward with a facility requiring roughly 170 megawatts of power capacity.
The 170 MW requirement renders the project one of South Africa’s largest single data centre developments, approaching the entire 189 MW capacity operated nationwide by industry leader Teraco.
The approval passed despite formal opposition from grassroots movement Housing Assembly and UK-based advocacy group Foxglove, represented by the Legal Resources Centre.
Activists argued the application lacked crucial operational details, highlighting estimates that traditional cooling systems at this scale could consume up to 4.4 billion litres of water annually.
“We have seen this playbook from U.S. Big Tech companies again and again: turn up in a community, tell them as little as possible about the huge harm the data centre will cause, and leave the people living there to pick up the pieces,” said Rosa Curling, co-executive director at Foxglove. (Reuters Reported)
Opponents also expressed severe concerns regarding grid stability, noting that the 170 MW energy demand equals the power required for approximately 130,000 households.
Spokesperson of the U.S listed company confirmed it purchased the land but noted it has not yet submitted a final site development plan, promising transparency as municipal planning progresses.
“Should we decide to proceed with any development, we are committed to being fully transparent and will provide detailed information to all relevant stakeholders in a timely manner,” Equinix spokesperson said.
The decision comes as global cloud providers rush to expand digital infrastructure across Africa to capture growing demand driven by enterprise cloud adoption and artificial intelligence.
Equinix previously committed 7.5 billion rand ($438 million) to expand its footprint in South Africa, having launched its initial 20 MW Johannesburg facility in late 2024.
Civic groups confirmed they are currently evaluating options to launch a formal legal appeal against the decision before building plans receive final municipal approval.
