Mozambique is positioning itself as a key player in Southern Africa's artificial intelligence infrastructure, leveraging its energy and geographic assets to attract data centres. Professor Lourino Chemane, President of the Board of Directors at Mozambique's National Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (INTIC), outlined the vision during an interview at GITEX Nigeria 2026. The country aims to complement existing hyperscaler hubs in South Africa rather than compete, offering distributed computing capacity across the region. Mozambique's advantages include abundant hydro, solar, and gas power, access to water for cooling systems, and a long coastline suitable for submarine fibre optic cables.
Chemane dismissed the idea of a zero-sum contest with South Africa, stressing that AI infrastructure benefits from regional distribution rather than centralisation. He emphasized that data should be treated as a strategic resource, aligning with the African Union's data governance strategy to enable cross-border data exchange while safeguarding national security and citizen consent. The framework being developed by INTIC seeks to balance digital sovereignty with regional interoperability. Mozambique's goal is to become a foundational node in a broader African network of sovereign AI infrastructure, supporting local innovation while integrating with regional systems.
Mozambique's plan to become a regional AI compute hub relies on natural advantages, yet depends on neighbours adopting compatible data rules. Without harmonised cross-border policies, the vision of shared infrastructure may remain fragmented despite technical readiness.
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