electricity usage and benefits to local communities. Equinix’s proposed 174-megawatt Cape Town sites would use over 4.4 billion litres of water annually, roughly the consumption of 18,000 homes, according to the groups. South Africa is already water-stressed, with Cape Town famously coming close to running out in 2018. Microsoft and Amazon have committed billions to expand AI infrastructure in Africa, but local residents say they are being sidelined in the rush for compute.

The resistance highlights a growing global tension between AI infrastructure and community needs. In the U.S., residents have rallied against data centres in Virginia, California and Philadelphia, and New York recently imposed a moratorium. Similar concerns have been raised in Kenya over a stalled Microsoft-G42 project. Rights groups say the pushback is necessary because the costs and consequences of data centres have become more apparent, and communities should not discover impacts only after decisions are made.