The Djibouti Sovereign Fund has entered into a joint venture with Pan-African firm PAIX Data Centres for the construction of the 5MW JIB1 data centre in Djibouti.

The facility will have about 50,000 square feet of net usable space and will be developed in phases, with the first expected to open in 2026. PAIX will purchase the land, buildings and data centre equipment.

The new cloud and carrier-neutral facility will serve as a strategic interconnection hub for internet service providers (ISPs), cloud providers, financial institutions and enterprises.

According to PAIX, 10 undersea cables connect to Djibouti, with further cables under construction, making the JIB1 data centre a key access point for companies looking to serve markets in the region.

“PAIX’s investment in JIB1 positions it at the crossroads of connectivity between Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia,” said the firm’s CEO Wouter van Hulten.

“The strong network hub that is created by the aggregation of multiple undersea cable landing points connecting to terrestrial cables makes Djibouti a highly attractive gateway. We plan to develop thriving magnetic cloud and content hubs in Djibouti.”

The Africa50 infrastructure investment platform will support PAIX on the project.

PAIX is also present in Accra, Ghana, where it has a 1.2MW data centre and Nairobi, Kenya, with a 700kW facility.

The signing of the Djibouti data centre agreement took place on 14 May, the concluding day of the inaugural Djibouti Investment Forum, during which President Ismail Omar Guelleh invited investors to tap opportunities in various sectors of the economy.

Speaking to CNBC Africa on the sidelines of the forum, Minister of Economy and Finance Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh said Djibouti hosts the most significant fibre-optic cable network in Africa and wants to position itself as a digital hub for the continent.

The minister added that in the coming years, the government would focus more on soft infrastructure such as human capital and public finance reforms while the private sector would be invited to work on strategic infrastructure projects.

Dawaleh added that Djibouti is well positioned to connect Africa and Asia, and serve as a maritime hub.