Strive Masiyiwa, Zimbabwean billionaire, will invest $720 million to establish five AI factories across Africa. These facilities, built in part by Cassava Technologies, aim to provide local AI infrastructure in major African markets. The first factory is under construction in South Africa, equipped with advanced Nvidia processors. This move is expected to bolster Africa's position in the global AI arena and reduce dependency on overseas resources. The factories are expected to be built in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco. Masiyiwa said the goal is to give major African markets access to their own advanced AI infrastructure, reducing reliance on overseas cloud providers.

He described the plan as part of Cassava’s “Sovereign AI Cloud” strategy, which aims to allow African countries to host and run their own AI systems locally.

“Our AI factory provides the infrastructure for innovation to scale, empowering African businesses, start-ups, and researchers with access to cutting-edge AI infrastructure. Now they don’t have to look beyond Africa to get it,” he said.

Masiyiwa, who is worth about $1.3 billion, is known for building Econet Wireless into one of Africa’s largest telecom groups.

In recent years, he has expanded Cassava from telecoms into cloud computing, fintech, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

The first AI factory is already under development in South Africa and will run on 3,000 Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs).

Cassava says much of this computing power has already been reserved by African researchers and developers.

Only about 5% of African AI talent currently has access to the high-performance computing power needed to train advanced AI models.

Building local infrastructure could allow more African researchers to develop homegrown tools in sectors like finance, education, health and agriculture.

Cassava also plans to link the AI factories to its wider digital network, which includes Africa Data Centres, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, and Liquid C2.

These companies already provide data storage, internet connectivity and cybersecurity services across the continent.

Earlier this year, Cassava launched a dedicated AI business unit and signed partnerships with global tech firms including Microsoft, AWS, Google and Anthropic to support African developers.

Analysts say the push could help Africa compete in the fast-growing global AI industry while keeping sensitive data on the continent.

It could also reduce costs for local startups and governments, who often pay high fees to store and process data overseas.

If completed on schedule, all five factories are expected to be operational by late 2026, positioning Cassava as one of the biggest builders of AI infrastructure in Africa. (Business Insider Africa)