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After a long deliberation in our newsroom, we decided that what you need might be another tech newsletter. Except with this one we’re going to be intentional about how we prepare the news.
From the latest tech company to secure funding to power shake-ups at the highest level and all the major stories in tech happening in the country and around the world, this will be a digest curated by our editors to help you start your day. |
Summary of the news
- Oracle opens its first data centre in Africa
- Christmas spending push POS transaction to an all-time high
- "Startups should rejoice more when they make $10k monthly than raise $1m"- Maxime Bayern
- Intel to build largest silicon manufacturing location in the world
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Last week, Oracle, the world’s largest database management company, opened its first cloud region (a cluster of data centres) in Africa, as it joined other global players like Microsoft and Amazon who already have data centres on the African continent.
The launch of the data centre in South Africa makes it Oracle’s 37th cloud region worldwide with plans to have at least 44 cloud regions by the end of 2022—opening 7 additional cloud regions in Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, France, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.
Oracle has no plans for more data centres in Africa this year, but in the next year, there could be more as the company explores areas such as West Africa, Cherian Varghese, regional managing director for the Middle East and Africa, told Reuters.
The Johannesburg data centre is expected to help customers easily migrate IT workloads and data platforms to the cloud or build new cloud-native applications. |
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Nigeria recorded a total of N6.43 trillion as POS transactions in 2021, hitting the highest levels on record. Nigeria’s acceptance of digital means of payment has improved in recent times, however, the Christmas festivity contributed significantly to the surge in the review year.
Notably, POS transactions in December, rose to N699.75 billion, which is the highest ever recorded in a single month. This is according to the recently released data on payment channels by the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS).
Similarly, the volume of POS transactions in the country skyrocketed by 50% to 982.8 million in 2021 compared to 655.8 million transactions recorded in the previous year. It also represents the highest number of transactions ever recorded since the adoption of Point of Sale transactions in Nigeria. |
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In a video chat with Technext, Venture Builder at Catalyst Fund and Founder of The Big Deal, Maxime Bayen said he’s excited by the number of early-stage startups attracting VC funds because it is one of the strongest indicators of how healthy an ecosystem is. According to him, large early-stage startups guarantee the longevity of an ecosystem.
“If you want to see how many unicorns we will have in Africa in the next 10 years, look at the number of pre-seed companies we have this year. I’m more excited to see a lot of pre-seeds. The big companies are already there. If you don’t have a lot of companies at the pre-seed and seed stage then the future is not looking great,” Maxime said. |
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As part of an effort to regain its position as a leading maker of semiconductors amidst a global chip shortage, Intel is committing $20 billion to build a manufacturing mega-site in New Albany, on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio, the company exclusively confirmed to TIME.
The chip maker says it will build at least two semiconductor fabrication plants, or fabs, on the 1,000-acre site, where Intel will research, develop, and manufacture its most cutting-edge computer chips, employing at least 3,000 people. Construction will begin this year and the plant should be operational by 2025, the company said. |
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