Cassava Technologies has announced a groundbreaking initiative to build Africa’s first AI Factory, a state-of-the-art, secure data center facility powered by NVIDIA AI computing technology. The move aims to revolutionize Africa’s AI landscape, offering businesses, governments, and researchers access to cutting-edge AI computing capacity to enhance productivity, streamline operations, and develop homegrown AI solutions.

The AI Factory, set to launch in South Africa by June 2025, will be the first of its kind on the continent, with planned expansions in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria. Cassava will leverage NVIDIA GPU-based supercomputers, ensuring faster AI model training, fine-tuning, and advanced inference capabilities. The company’s high-speed, ultra-low-latency pan-African fibre-optic network will further enhance efficiency, delivering AI as a Service (AIaaS) while ensuring compliance with local and global data regulations.

Cassava’s initiative will play a critical role in Africa’s digital transformation, allowing local businesses and researchers to develop AI solutions without having to rely on overseas computing infrastructure.

“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—without having to look beyond Africa,” said Strive Masiyiwa, Founder & Chairman of Cassava Technologies.

Through its partnership with NVIDIA, Cassava aims to be the first in Africa to deploy accelerated computing platforms, strengthening the continent’s digital independence.

“AI is helping innovators solve our greatest challenges in agriculture, healthcare, energy, financial services, and many other industries, creating opportunities in Africa,” said Jaap Zuiderveld, VP EMEA at NVIDIA. “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.”

One of the defining features of the Cassava AI Factory is its focus on sustainability and energy efficiency. AI computing demands high-performance infrastructure, and Cassava is ensuring its data centers minimize power consumption while delivering unparalleled AI capabilities.

The AI Factory is expected to drive job creation, digital skills development, and AI adoption across multiple sectors, including agriculture, healthcare, and financial services. By keeping data within Africa’s borders, Cassava’s initiative also strengthens cybersecurity, digital sovereignty, and regulatory compliance.

“Last week, at the NVIDIA GTC Conference we concluded what I believe to be the most significant development for Cassava Technologies – an agreement to launch Africa’s first AI factory collaborating with NVIDIA to bring their AI compute technology to our data centres South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco. The AI factory is set to become the bedrock of every modern economy, manufacturing intelligence to power productivity and innovation in virtually every industry.” wrote Hardy Pemhiwa, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cassava Technologies.

As Africa continues its rapid digital transformation, Cassava’s AI Factory is set to redefine the continent’s AI capabilities, paving the way for a future where AI-powered African innovation drives economic growth, global competitiveness, and sustainable development.