Eskom is courting global tech giants for data centre power, marking recovery after ending load‑shedding. Quote from Mteto Nyati: "We are having discussions with the Amazons, the Microsofts, the Googles... power‑hungry sectors". The utility entered winter with about 6 gigawatts of surplus capacity, its strongest reserve margin in a decade, after a generation plan ended unplanned outages.

This surplus allowed South Africa to go more than 12 months without load‑shedding, a first since 2018. Data centre demand is booming; Africa holds about 70% of the continent’s centres, and the market is projected to exceed $5 bn by 2031. Companies such as Nvidia, Cassava Technologies, Huawei Cloud, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and Equinix have pledged billions to build facilities.

Eskom has roughly 2,000 MW of capacity in cold storage that could be returned online, but large investments risk overloading the grid. Analysts warn that Eskom must retain customers as anchor tenants rather than merely backup suppliers. The utility also signed discounted deals with smelters like the Glencore‑Merafe Chrome venture.

The renewed commercial push reflects improved operations under Nyati, with the energy availability factor rising to 66 %, and a R254 bn debt relief package strengthening finances, though municipal arrears remain a risk.