Cassava Technologies has joined hands with Nvidia to invest up to $720 million to build the continent’s first AI factory. The new project will develop advanced computing infrastructure and AI software across South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, and Morocco.
Cassava Gives $720M AI Push to Africa
Cassava, founded by Zimbabwean telecom magnate Strive Masiyiwa, sees the project not just as a business endeavor but as a strategic imperative. “This is about ensuring that Africa does not get left behind,” said Hardy Pemhiwa, president and CEO of Cassava. “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.”
The initiative will kick off in South Africa, where 3,000 of Nvidia’s powerful graphic processing units (GPUs) will be operational by June; each priced between $45,000 and $60,000, according to the local report.
Over the next three to four years, Cassava plans to scale up to 12,000 GPUs across the continent. Pemhiwa likened the rollout to laying digital railways, saying, “The GPUs themselves are like laying fiber, the investment is really about building the whole AI ecosystem.”
With Nvidia commanding 93% of the global GPU market, its collaboration with Cassava highlights a growing alignment between African innovation and Silicon Valley’s cutting-edge technology.
The infrastructure will provide help to universities, start-ups, fintechs, healthcare providers, and even the government. The announcement comes as tech giants like Microsoft scale back data center investments.
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