Microsoft Corp. is stepping up its push for AI adoption across Africa, announcing plans to train 3 million people on its technology this year as it competes with China’s DeepSeek for customers in the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population.
The Redmond, Washington-based company will pursue the training initiative in partnership with schools, universities and other institutions, with a focus on South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Morocco. Microsoft has also partnered with MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecommunications firm, to bundle its Microsoft 365 suite of applications with its Copilot digital assistant for MTN’s 300 million subscribers.
The Microsoft Elevate training initiative is designed “to make sure cost is not a barrier to building AI literacy at scale,” said Naim Yazbeck, Microsoft’s Middle East and Africa president. “Chinese technology is active in Africa and our job is to compete,” he said in an interview.
While much of the world’s attention has focused on AI competition in the United States and Europe, Chinese rivals such as open-source AI platform DeepSeek have gained meaningful traction across Africa, accounting for roughly 11% to 14% of chatbot use on the continent, according to a Microsoft report. In Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, DeepSeek has captured as much as 20% market share, bolstered by a strategic push from Beijing and Chinese companies to build digital infrastructure, expand telecom networks and roll out AI services across fast-growing African markets.
The United States has sought to counter those efforts through its own strategic investments on the continent as part of a long-term bid for customers, soft power and access to data that will shape the future of AI development.
In South Africa, Microsoft is investing 5.4 billion rand ($330 million) to expand its cloud and AI capacity by the end of next year. The company also has plans to build a geothermal-powered data center in Kenya.
DeepSeek is generally far cheaper for developers to use than Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and Copilot offerings. Yazbeck said Microsoft is working to address that gap by providing entrepreneurs access to Azure and its code-hosting platform GitHub through its Startup Founders Hub, where participants also connect with venture capital investors.
Copilot is gaining traction in the African corporate sector. South African grocer Spar Group is using the tool to save more than 700 employee hours per year, while Nigeria’s Access Holdings has embedded AI into daily workflows, Yazbeck said.
Yazbeck urged African governments to make AI a national priority, pointing to the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Saudi Arabia as examples of countries already seeing returns from doing so. African nations “have to look at it as an enabler of future economic development,” he said, adding that AI adoption could increase the continent’s gross domestic product by $1.5 trillion by 2030.
