• Cassava Technologies will beef up its AI capabilities by establishing what it calls an AI Factory.
• This entails deploying NVIDIA powered supercomputers into its data centres and leveraging its extensive network running through Africa.
• Cassava plans to start the process in South Africa and intends to expand into Egypt, Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria.

While generative artificial intelligence has captured the attention of internet denizens all over the world, most of the larger solutions that are favoured by users come from the global West.

That is set to change thanks to an announcement from Cassava Technologies which has committed to building what it calls Africa’s first AI factory. The Pan-African technology leader announced that it intends to deploy accelerated computing and AI software from NVIDIA by June of this year.

That deadline is specifically for deployment in South African data centres with expansion into DCs located in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria utilising Cassava’s extensive high-speed, ultra-low-latency, fibre-optic network that runs throughout the African continent.

By installing supercomputers powered by NVIDIA GPUs, Cassava will enable the ability for local developers to create AI solutions that can harness the immense compute power that will be hosted at Cassava’s DCs. Most importantly, it will ensure that the data of Africans remains within Africa.

“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 — and now, they don’t have to look beyond Africa to get it,” said Strive Masiyiwa, founder and chairman of Cassava.

“Collaborating with NVIDIA gives us the advanced computing capabilities needed to drive Africa’s AI innovation while strengthening the continent’s digital independence,” he added.

As we’ve seen in recent months, external pressures and decisions from other countries can have a detrimental effect on South Africa. As such, African nations need to become more resilient as Western pressure reaches unprecedented levels. No matter your opinion or position on AI, there is no denying it is a major economic driver that Africa can’t and shouldn’t ignore.

We suspect that while Cassava will be the first to establish these AI capabilities, we doubt it will be the last. As such we expect to see similar announcements from other DC operators before too long.

“AI is helping innovators solve our greatest challenges in agriculture, healthcare, energy, financial services and many other industries creating opportunity in Africa,” said Jaap Zuiderveld, vice president of the Europe, Middle East and Africa market 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.”

It’s also worth mentioning that Cassava has its own AI division, Cassava AI. The business unit is partnered with major players including Anthropic, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, AtlasAI and others. With NVIDIA tech in play, the capabilities of this offering are sure to ramp up which is great news for organisations looking to dive into AI.

As we mentioned though, we’re curious to see how this technology is used to develop solutions to African problems, developed by Africans.