Modern Infrastructure Key to Nigeria’s AI Leadership, Says Schneider Electric
Schneider Electric has emphasized that the next era of global artificial intelligence (AI) leadership will be driven more by the quality of digital infrastructure than by larger datasets or innovative AI models alone. The company argues that organisations investing in modern, resilient, and flexible data centres will secure a decisive competitive edge as AI adoption accelerates worldwide.
Ajibola Akindele, Country President of Schneider Electric West Africa, noted that data centre capacity and efficiency are now critical for both corporate and national competitiveness. “AI is transforming how businesses operate, and data centres must deliver greater capacity with higher efficiency. For Nigeria to fully benefit from AI, we need infrastructure that is modern, flexible, and resilient,” Akindele said. He added that Schneider Electric is committed to helping Nigerian organisations scale confidently and compete on a global level.
Decisions around energy efficiency, thermal management, and modular expansion are increasingly shaping which organisations can innovate fastest. Previously, routine operational considerations like power and cooling are now strategic factors that influence AI workload performance, deployment speed, and sustainability outcomes. High-performance AI racks are expected to exceed traditional limits, reaching more than 140 kW per rack by late 2025.
To handle these demands, operators are turning to advanced liquid cooling technologies that support higher densities, reduce energy consumption, and improve system efficiency. Schneider Electric highlighted that precision thermal management is especially vital in Nigeria, where power supply and energy costs remain a challenge, helping reduce operational costs and support growth in the digital economy.
Schneider Electric also stressed the importance of modular and prefabricated data centre designs, which can dramatically shorten deployment timelines from 24 months to as little as seven months. The company’s global partnership with NVIDIA is developing AI-optimized data centre reference architectures capable of supporting up to 142 kW per rack, combining liquid cooling, grid stability support, renewable energy use, and intelligent power management for sustainable and scalable AI adoption.
source: Leadership