KEY POINTS
- Strive Masiyiwa leads Cassava’s AI factory rollout.
- The Sovereign AI Cloud will expand across Africa.
- The first Nvidia-powered site is set in South Africa.
Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa is laying the groundwork for one of Africa’s most ambitious technology projects yet: five artificial intelligence factories spread across the continent.
Masiyiwa’s company, Cassava Technologies, will roll out the facilities over the next year in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco. He said the plan builds on what he calls a “Sovereign AI Cloud,” designed to give each African nation the ability to host and run its own AI infrastructure.
Cassava builds sovereign AI cloud network
Only about 5 percent of Africa’s AI talent has access to the computing power needed for advanced projects. Masiyiwa further said the factories will close that gap by keeping critical infrastructure in Africa and giving startups, researchers, and governments easier access to world-class resources.
“Our AI factory provides the infrastructure for innovation to scale,” he said. “Now they don’t have to look beyond Africa to get it.”
Strive Masiyiwa drives Africa’s AI revolution
The entrepreneur likened the initiative to earlier phases of his career, when he helped spearhead Africa’s mobile boom and expanded broadband access. Masiyiwa says Africa cannot afford to be left behind as artificial intelligence reshapes industries worldwide.
In South Africa, the project’s first site is rising in partnership with Nvidia at a cost of \$720 million. Moreover it will run on 3,000 Nvidia GPUs, much of which African AI practitioners have already reserved.
Building Africa’s digital future with Cassava
Masiyiwa, worth an estimated $1.3 billion, made his fortune by founding Econet Wireless in 1998 and expanding it into a major pan-African telecoms group. Today, through Cassava, he has pushed into fintech, satellite services, renewable energy and also artificial intelligence.
Furthermore Billionaire Africa says to strengthen the AI rollout, Cassava’s cloud arm Cloudmania has broadened its partnership with U.S.-listed AvePoint, giving African businesses access to globally used data protection and governance tools.
Masiyiwa said the move is part of ensuring Africa not only consumes global technology but also produces it. “We are driving the continent’s AI revolution,” he also said.
