Africa’s Inaugural ‘AI Factory’ has the Potential to Revolutionize the Continent.

Excitement is building in Kigali, Rwanda, as the Global AI Summit on Africa kicks off today, highlighting economic growth and technological advancements.

Adding to the anticipation, Cassava Technologies—founded by Zimbabwean telecoms billionaire Strive Masiyiwa—recently announced plans to establish Africa’s first “AI factory” in collaboration with leading AI chipmaker Nvidia.

Starting in June, Nvidia’s GPU-powered supercomputers will be installed at Cassava’s data centers in South Africa, followed by expansion into Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria. Africa has lagged in the global AI surge, largely due to limited computing power. A study by Zindi, a network of 80,000 AI professionals across 52 African nations, revealed that only 5% of AI practitioners on the continent have access to the necessary computational resources.

Alex Tsado, founder of Alliance4AI, emphasizes that increased GPU availability will drive AI advancements. Currently, Africa lacks major GPU clusters, slowing innovation. Tsado notes that without GPUs, AI development takes significantly longer compared to regions like the US or Europe. With improved access, more data collection, talent development, and AI-driven progress will accelerate.

While Cassava has yet to outline a full deployment strategy, it confirmed in a press release that Nvidia’s technology will enable faster AI model training. The data centers will provide businesses and researchers with the computing power needed to develop, scale, and implement AI securely.

“Our AI factory lays the foundation for innovation at scale, giving African businesses, startups, and researchers access to cutting-edge AI infrastructure—without needing to look beyond the continent,” Masiyiwa stated.

Democratizing AI

The high price of hardware compared to income levels in Africa has been a significant obstacle to AI adoption. Some of Nvidia’s most advanced GPUs cost up to $40,000. AI4D, an African AI development initiative, reports that purchasing a GPU in Kenya amounts to 75% of the country’s GDP per capita—making it 31 times more costly than in Germany when adjusted for relative income. As a result, many rely on international cloud services like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. However, these solutions are also expensive due to higher costs and longer data transmission times across regions.

For Zindi’s AI community, the establishment of local data centers powered by Nvidia GPU supercomputers would be transformative, according to Celina Lee, the company’s CEO and co-founder.

“With Africa-based AI infrastructure, ‘Zindians’ would gain access to more affordable computing power, quicker AI tools, and reduced latency, enabling them to develop and deploy AI models more efficiently,” she explains.

Nvidia’s GPUs facilitate the training and implementation of advanced AI models.

Lee emphasizes that Nvidia’s state-of-the-art technology—used by major players like OpenAI, Tesla, Meta, and Google—will level the playing field. “This would make AI development more accessible, strengthen local AI ecosystems, and drive innovation in sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, and financial services, fostering solutions tailored to Africa’s specific needs,” she explains. Additionally, it could improve Africa’s representation in global AI datasets. Currently, African languages and dialects are underrepresented due to limited data, and biases exist in AI training, such as facial recognition systems struggling with darker skin tones.

“With greater access to AI infrastructure, African experts could train models using local datasets that better reflect diverse demographics, economic systems, and environments,” Lee adds.

However, Tsado highlights challenges in Cassava’s plan to build factories, particularly Africa’s unstable power grids, which have previously deterred such investments. Lee also notes that beyond access to GPUs, African users face difficulties running AI models efficiently due to reliance on lower-end smartphones with limited internet access.

Despite these obstacles, both see Cassava’s initiative as a significant step forward. “It’s great to see Africa’s tech sector finally investing in AI infrastructure,” Tsado says. “Strive Masiyiwa’s announcement is the first major public commitment, and it could inspire others to follow.”