Cassava to Launch Africa’s First AI Factory with NVIDIA Supercomputers
Cassava Technologies has announced plans to build Africa’s first AI Factory, a high-performance and ultra-secure data centre powered by NVIDIA AI computing technology. This initiative aims to accelerate the continent’s AI development by providing businesses, governments, and researchers access to cutting-edge AI computing capacity.
Cassava’s AI-enabled data centres will help Africa develop domestic AI technologies, boost productivity, ensure data security, and support business growth, making the continent economically competitive and future-ready.
The company plans to deploy NVIDIA accelerated computing and AI software using NVIDIA Cloud Partner (NCP) reference architectures at its data centres in South Africa by June 2025, with further expansion into Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria. The AI Factory will integrate Cassava’s pan-African fibre-optic network and sustainable data centres to deliver AI as a Service (AIaaS), ensuring energy-efficient AI computing operations.
NVIDIA GPU-based supercomputers will power the AI Factory, enabling faster AI model training, fine-tuning, and advanced inference capabilities. Cassava is set to become Africa’s first NCP, playing a crucial role in strengthening the continent’s AI ecosystem.
Cassava’s AI Factory will provide businesses and researchers with the computing power necessary to scale innovation, enhance productivity, and develop local solutions to African challenges. By ensuring data sovereignty, it will allow African enterprises and governments to train and deploy AI in a secure environment compliant with global and local regulations.
Strive Masiyiwa, Founder & Chairman of Cassava Technologies, emphasized the importance of building digital infrastructure for AI:
“Our AI Factory provides the infrastructure for 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. Collaborating with NVIDIA gives us the advanced computing capabilities needed to drive Africa’s AI innovation while strengthening the continent’s digital independence.”
Jaap Zuiderveld, VP EMEA at NVIDIA, highlighted the impact of AI in Africa:“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.”
Cassava’s AI Factory marks the company’s latest commitment to responsible AI adoption, digital innovation, and productivity growth in Africa.
Cassava Technologies is a global technology leader of African heritage, providing a vertically integrated ecosystem of digital services and infrastructure to drive digital transformation. Headquartered in the UK, the company operates across Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and the United States through its business units, including Cassava AI, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Liquid C2, Africa Data Centres, and Sasai Fintech.
