Cassava Technologies plans to spend up to $720 million building the first AI factory across Africa with help from Nvidia Corp. This major cash will create tech centers in five African nations. The firm, started by famous Zimbabwe business leader Strive Masiyiwa, wants to bring fast computers and smart programs to South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, and Morocco. Hardy Pemhiwa, who runs Cassava, told reporters they must lead with their money first, even if limited. He believes Africa needs these steps forward or risks falling behind other parts of the world.
South Africa comes first on the list, with 3,000 special computer parts—called GPUs—arriving by June. These powerful chips make AI work faster. Pemhiwa shared that his company aims to place 12,000 of these chips across Africa over the next few years. Each chip costs between $45,000 and $60,000. He compared installing these parts to laying down internet cables—the real value comes from what people can build using them afterward.
Cassava picked Nvidia because they lead the market, controlling 93 percent of these special computer chips worldwide. Another benefit of Cassava? They can sell extra computer power to other Nvidia customers anywhere around the globe when not used locally. Pemhiwa explained that nobody else has created such a complete system beyond just the chips themselves. The AI factory represents what Nvidia does best across all countries.
The African AI centers will serve many groups—college researchers, new small businesses, app makers working on health and money systems, and government offices. These places will let African experts create their programs instead of relying only on solutions made elsewhere. Local AI development means solving African problems with African answers. Having these systems nearby reduces delays and costs that come from using faraway computers.
At the same time, big tech firm Microsoft has stopped several data center projects globally. This points to Microsoft looking more carefully at their plans for building massive server groups that run AI and cloud services. Bloomberg News shared this update recently. This news makes Cassava's push into African AI even more important as some global companies pause their expansion plans.
South Africa comes first on the list, with 3,000 special computer parts—called GPUs—arriving by June. These powerful chips make AI work faster. Pemhiwa shared that his company aims to place 12,000 of these chips across Africa over the next few years. Each chip costs between $45,000 and $60,000. He compared installing these parts to laying down internet cables—the real value comes from what people can build using them afterward.
Cassava picked Nvidia because they lead the market, controlling 93 percent of these special computer chips worldwide. Another benefit of Cassava? They can sell extra computer power to other Nvidia customers anywhere around the globe when not used locally. Pemhiwa explained that nobody else has created such a complete system beyond just the chips themselves. The AI factory represents what Nvidia does best across all countries.
The African AI centers will serve many groups—college researchers, new small businesses, app makers working on health and money systems, and government offices. These places will let African experts create their programs instead of relying only on solutions made elsewhere. Local AI development means solving African problems with African answers. Having these systems nearby reduces delays and costs that come from using faraway computers.
At the same time, big tech firm Microsoft has stopped several data center projects globally. This points to Microsoft looking more carefully at their plans for building massive server groups that run AI and cloud services. Bloomberg News shared this update recently. This news makes Cassava's push into African AI even more important as some global companies pause their expansion plans.
