Ethiopia’s Strategic Move:
NAIROBI, Feb 16 (Reuters) – Ethiopia has signed a preliminary agreement to develop infrastructure for data mining and artificial intelligence training operations, the government’s strategic investment arm said.
Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH) initially said in a social media post on Thursday that a memorandum of understanding for a $250 million project had been signed with a Hong Kong-based West Data Group subsidiary. Still, it later removed references to the value of the deal and the company’s identity.
The EIH, West Data Group, and an official from the Information Network Security Administration, which oversees data mining in Ethiopia, did not respond to requests for comment about the deal.
Bloomberg reported last week that Ethiopia had become a leading destination for bitcoin mining – an Ethiopian official referred to in a statement to the news agency as “data mining” and “high-performance computing” – since the government authorized the practice in 2022.
The report said bitcoin miners, whose computers compete to solve complex algorithms and consume large amounts of electricity, are attracted by low power costs in East Africa.
China banned crypto trading and mining in 2021 to control financial risks and reduce energy consumption.
Ethiopia has about 5,200 MW of installed generation capacity, with around 90% of it coming from hydropower and the remaining 10% from wind and thermal sources.
It is also finalizing the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD) construction, which has a projected installed capacity of 5,150 MW.
About 40% of Ethiopia’s 120 million people have no electricity.
