Zimbabwean telecon tycoon efforts Masiyiwa's Cassava Technologies is working with Tech Giant Nvidia, one of the world's most valuable companies, to build what it says is Africa's “first AI factory.”
Cassava, the UK commander founded and chaired by Masiyiwa, said it will build a “strong and extremely secure data center facility” powered by NVIDIA AI computing technology.
Cassava says it will deploy NVIDIA accelerated computing and AI software using the NVIDIA Cloud Partner (NCP) reference architecture in data centres in South Africa by June 2025, with expansion planned at other data centre facilities in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria.
“This will allow African businesses, governments and researchers to access cutting-edge AI computing capabilities. It will help them develop smarter AI products and stay competitive in a fast, changing world. It will provide the supercomputers and software they need to train AI while maintaining data within Africa's boundaries,” the company said.
With a market capitalization of around $3 trillion, Nvidia is an artificial intelligence software and hardware provider and the design and supply of graphics processing units (GPUs) and application programming interfaces for data science and high performance computing.
The NVIDIAGPU-based supercomputer powers AI factories and enables “faster AI model training, fine-tuning and advanced inference capabilities.”
The factory uses Cassava's Pan-African Fibre-Optic Network and data centers to provide AI as a service (AIAAS).
“Using this safe, high-performance AI factory, African businesses and governments can develop local solutions to local challenges, enabling Africans to build, train, expand and deploy AI in a safe environment that complies with global and local regulations,” Cassava said.
Startup boost
Masiyiwa said the AI factory will bring new AI capabilities to Africa for the first time.
“Building digital infrastructure for the AI economy is a priority so that Africa can make the most of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Our AI Factory provides the infrastructure to expand this innovation, allowing African businesses, startups and researchers to access cutting-edge infrastructure and turn bold ideas into real-world forks.
“Working with Nvidia will provide the sophisticated computing capabilities needed to promote AI innovation in Africa while strengthening the continent's digital independence.”
Jaap Zuiderveld, Vice President of Nvidia's Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said Cassava will provide infrastructure and software to help businesses and organizations accelerate AI development.
“AI helps innovators solve our biggest challenges in agriculture, healthcare, energy, financial services, and many other industries that create opportunities in Africa.”
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