Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa is once again in the headlines, this time with an ambitious bet on the future of artificial intelligence in Africa.
Through his firm Cassava Technologies, Masiyiwa has unveiled plans to establish five AI “factories” across the continent, representing a $720 million investment aimed at reducing Africa’s dependence on overseas digital infrastructure.
Building Africa’s AI backbone
The facilities, described as “factories” but effectively AI-driven data centres, will be strategically located in major regional markets such as South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and Morocco. The first, already under development in South Africa, is expected to be equipped with 3,000 Nvidia GPUs, placing it among the most advanced AI infrastructure hubs on the continent.
Masiyiwa’s vision is clear: to create a Sovereign AI Cloud for Africa, ensuring that the continent can train, deploy, and scale AI models using its own infrastructure, rather than relying heavily on data centres in Europe, the United States, or Asia.
Why this matters
Africa’s digital transformation is moving rapidly, but it remains constrained by the lack of local infrastructure. Today, much of the continent’s data traffic is routed through servers outside Africa, raising cost, latency, and sovereignty concerns.
By localising AI infrastructure, Masiyiwa hopes to:
- Cut costs of accessing AI and cloud services
- Enhance data security and sovereignty by keeping African data within Africa
- Empower local innovators to build AI tools tailored to African realities—from agriculture and health to fintech and education
The hurdles ahead
Despite its promise, the plan faces challenges. AI “factories” are power-intensive, and several of the targeted host countries struggle with electricity reliability. Ensuring affordable, clean energy to power these sites will be critical to their success.
Moreover, attracting sufficient technical expertise and ensuring regulatory alignment across borders will require coordinated effort. Without strong frameworks, Africa risks replicating the very inequalities Masiyiwa’s plan seeks to address.
A new frontier for African tech
Yet the ambition behind this initiative cannot be ignored. If realised, it would represent one of the most significant steps yet toward Africa’s digital sovereignty, positioning the continent not only as a consumer of global AI tools but also as a producer of homegrown solutions.
For Masiyiwa, the AI factories are a continuation of his long-standing role as a pioneer in African telecommunications and digital services. For Africa, they could be a decisive step toward shaping its own future in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Source: Further Africa
