Construction of data center in Nouakchott and submarine cable

The planned construction of a data centre in Nouakchott and an associated submarine cable connection forms part of the EU-AU Data Flagship initiative under Global Gateway's digital pillar. According to EU sources, the broader flagship aims to establish green data centres across Africa to support data sovereignty and local processing capacity. However, the investment figure for the Mauritania-specific component has not been publicly disclosed, and no commitments or disbursements appear in either the IATI Datastore or the EIB project database. At this stage, the project remains an announcement at Phase 1 of 5, with no independently verified financial progress to report. The most substantive recent development connected to Mauritania's digital infrastructure is not in Nouakchott but further north. In early May 2026, multiple specialist outlets reported that the EllaLink submarine cable system had landed a new branch in Nouadhibou, Mauritania's second city and main commercial port.