Nvidia Corp. has been selected by Cassava Technologies, founded by Zimbabwean telecom mogul Strive Masiyiwa, to establish Africa’s first AI factory.
Cassava plans to implement Nvidia’s cutting-edge computing and artificial intelligence software at its data centres.
According to the company’s website, it will start updating the data centre in South Africa by June 2025 and then on its other facilities in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria.
Nvidia GPU-based supercomputers fuel AI advancement in Africa
The planned implementation of the updated data centres will give African governments, businesses, and researchers access to cutting-edge AI computing capabilities. Hence enabling them to adapt to the fast-moving world by assisting them in creating more intelligent AI products, streamlining processes, and maintaining competitiveness.
Masiyiwa said, “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.”
Nvidia GPU-based supercomputers will power the AI factory, allowing for quicker training, fine-tuning, and advanced inference capabilities of AI models while maintaining data within Africa’s borders.
As a Nvidia cloud partner, Cassava aims to become the first technology company to launch accelerated computing in Africa.
Several firms also expressed interest to build geothermal-powered data centres in East Africa last year. These companies included Microsoft Corp. and G42, the leading AI firm in the United Arab Emirates.
Microsoft Corp. and G42’s main focus was to build a geothermal-powered data centre in Kenya, a project worth $1 billion, as part of a multi-year plan to increase cloud-computing capacity in East Africa.
In addition, Casava stated that the AI Factory would use sustainable data centres and the company’s pan-African fibre-optic network to provide AI-as-a-service (AIaaS).
Cassava announced the creation of Cassava AI, a dedicated AI business unit, in August 2024. The company claimed to be able to offer services in more than 40 markets in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.
Africa is emerging into a growing tech hub driven by AI advancement and innovation
A founder and chairman of Cassava Technologies, Strive Masiyiwa, stated that to take full advantage of the fourth industrial revolution, one of the top priorities was creating digital infrastructure for the AI economy.
Masiyiwa added that working with Nvidia makes the Africs more digitally independent.
Vice president of EMEA at NVIDIA Jaap Zuiderveld commented on the importance of AI innovation in Africa, stating that it helps innovators solve their greatest challenges in various sectors. These included healthcare, energy, financial services, and agriculture, among other industries, therefore creating opportunities in Africa.
Zuiderveld added that Cassava, being an Nvidia Cloud Partner, offered crucial software and infrastructure to support innovative businesses and organisations in accelerating AI development and promoting innovation throughout the continent.
Cassava Technologies is a digital services and infrastructure provider with operations in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and the US. Its headquarters are in the United Kingdom.
Africa Data Centers, Sasai Fintech, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Cassava AI, and Liquid C2 are some of its business divisions.
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