Cassava Technologies has announced plans to invest up to $720 million in partnership with Nvidia Corporation to deploy artificial intelligence-powered data centers across five African countries as part of a continent-wide digital infrastructure expansion.
The project will mark the establishment of Africa’s first AI factory with the initial deployment starting in South Africa while additional rollouts will follow in Nigeria Egypt Kenya and Morocco.
The initiative is led by Strive Masiyiwa’s Cassava Technologies and aims to bridge the AI infrastructure gap between Africa and the rest of the world.
Speaking on the development, Hardy Pemhiw, President and Group Chief Executive Officer of Cassava Technologies, said the company is committing capital to ensure Africa does not fall behind in the global AI race.
“If we don’t take the first step to deploy our own capital however limited it may be we can’t expect others to go first. This is about ensuring that Africa doesn’t get left behind” Pemhiwa stated.
The first phase of the rollout will see 3,000 high-performance graphic processing units supplied by Nvidia installed in South Africa by June.
Cassava plans to expand the infrastructure by installing a total of 12,000 GPUs across the continent over the next three to four years.
Each GPU is valued between $45,000 and $60,000, indicating the scale and depth of the investment required to build Africa’s AI ecosystem.
Pemhiwa explained that while the GPUs are essential, the larger focus is on creating a complete AI infrastructure from hardware to data integration platforms and end-user access.
“The GPUs themselves are like laying fiber the investment is really about building the whole AI ecosystem” he added.
Nvidia, which controls 93 percent of the global GPU market, was selected for its technological leadership and ability to deliver scalable AI computing solutions.
Pemhiwa noted that excess capacity from the data centers can also be sold to Nvidia’s cloud clients globally creating revenue-generating opportunities for the project.
The AI factory will support academic researchers technology startups developers in healthcare financial services and government institutions.
The goal is to provide affordable access to AI computing power and stimulate innovation across key economic sectors.
This announcement comes at a time when other tech giants such as Microsoft Corporation are scaling back data center projects globally according to recent reports.
Cassava’s decision to move forward with a major AI infrastructure investment positions the company as a leading force in digital transformation across Africa.
Cassava Technologies which operates across the digital infrastructure value chain from fiber networks to data centers cloud services and cybersecurity is leveraging its integrated platforms to support AI development and deployment at scale.
With Africa’s digital economy projected to grow significantly over the next decade Cassava’s partnership with Nvidia signals a strategic push to anchor AI capability on the continent and create long-term value through technological advancement.
