Cassava Technologies is making a bold move to propel Africa into the global AI race by announcing plans to build the continent’s first AI Factory — a powerful, secure data centre facility equipped with NVIDIA’s advanced AI computing technology. According to press release on their website, the initiative aims to empower African businesses, governments, and researchers with state-of-the-art AI infrastructure, enabling the development of homegrown AI innovations while safeguarding data within the continent.
Bringing AI Computing Power to Africa
Cassava’s AI Factory will be the first of its kind on the continent, designed to accelerate Africa’s AI development and enhance productivity across industries. The facility will offer supercomputing power and software essential for training and deploying AI models, helping African innovators create smarter products, streamline operations, and stay competitive on the global stage. By keeping data processing local, the factory will ensure African businesses maintain control over their data, adhering to both global and regional compliance regulations.
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The AI Factory will debut in South Africa by June 2025, with expansions planned for Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria — key hubs for digital transformation across the continent. It will leverage Cassava’s pan-African, high-speed fibre-optic network alongside energy-efficient, ultra-low-latency data centres, delivering AI as a Service (AIaaS) to businesses and institutions alike.
Powered by NVIDIA’s Cutting-Edge AI Technology
At the core of Cassava’s AI Factory will be NVIDIA GPU-based supercomputers, known for their speed and efficiency in handling intensive AI workloads like model training, fine-tuning, and real-time inference. Cassava plans to integrate NVIDIA Cloud Partner (NCP) reference architectures — a first for Africa — positioning itself as a leader in the continent’s evolving AI ecosystem.
The high-performance infrastructure will give African enterprises and researchers access to the same level of computing power seen in global tech hubs, helping them develop breakthroughs in healthcare, agriculture, financial services, energy, and education — all while maintaining data sovereignty.
A Boost for African Innovation and Digital Independence
Cassava’s Founder and Chairman, Strive Masiyiwa, emphasized the importance of this initiative:
“Building digital infrastructure for the AI economy is a priority if Africa is to take full advantage of the fourth industrial revolution. Our AI Factory provides the infrastructure for this innovation to scale, empowering African businesses, startups and researchers with access to cutting-edge AI infrastructure to turn their bold ideas into real-world breakthroughs — and now, they don’t have to look beyond Africa to get it.”
Jaap Zuiderveld, Vice President for EMEA at NVIDIA, echoed this sentiment:
“AI is helping innovators solve our greatest challenges in agriculture, healthcare, energy, financial services and many other industries creating opportunity in Africa. As an NVIDIA Cloud Partner, Cassava is providing essential infrastructure and software to help pioneering companies and organizations accelerate AI development to foster innovation across the continent.”
Shaping Africa’s AI Future
Cassava Technologies’ AI Factory represents more than just a technological leap — it’s a statement about Africa’s digital sovereignty and innovation potential. With NVIDIA’s cutting-edge AI infrastructure and Cassava’s expansive data network, African businesses and researchers will no longer need to rely on international data centres for AI development.
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This move also reinforces Cassava’s longstanding leadership in digital solutions, strengthening its commitment to responsible AI adoption and driving productivity growth across the continent.
The AI revolution isn’t coming — it’s already here. And with Cassava Technologies leading the charge, Africa is poised to shape its own AI-powered future.
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