Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa, founder of Cassava Technologies, has unveiled a sweeping $720 million plan to build five artificial intelligence factories across Africa over the next year, marking one of the most ambitious tech infrastructure bets on the continent.
The facilities—slated for South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco—are part of Cassava’s “Sovereign AI Cloud” strategy, aimed at giving African economies the capacity to host and run advanced AI systems locally rather than relying on overseas cloud providers.
The first AI factory, currently under construction in South Africa, will be powered by 3,000 Nvidia GPUs. Cassava says much of the computing capacity has already been pre-booked by African researchers and developers.
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“Our AI factory provides the infrastructure for innovation to scale, empowering African businesses, start-ups, and researchers with access to cutting-edge AI infrastructure,” Masiyiwa said. “Now they don’t have to look beyond Africa to get it.”
Closing the Infrastructure Gap
Africa’s AI ecosystem faces a critical bottleneck: only about 5% of the continent’s AI talent currently has access to the computing power needed to train advanced machine-learning models. By bringing infrastructure onshore, Cassava hopes to enable African innovators to build solutions in sectors including finance, health, agriculture, and education.
The factories will be tightly linked to Cassava’s broader digital network, including Data-start=”1794″ data-end=”1865″>Africa Data Centres, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, and Liquid C2, which already provide cloud storage, internet connectivity, and cybersecurity services across the continent.
Strategic Partnerships
Earlier this year, Cassava launched a dedicated AI business unit and signed collaborations with global tech giants including Microsoft, AWS, Google, and Anthropic. Analysts say this mix of local infrastructure and global partnerships could help African startups reduce costs, keep sensitive data on the continent, and position Africa more competitively in the global AI industry.
If the rollout stays on schedule, all five factories will be fully operational by late 2026, making Cassava one of Africa’s leading builders of AI infrastructure.
Masiyiwa, who has a net worth of about $1.3 billion, first rose to prominence as the founder of Econet Wireless and has since expanded into fintech, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and now artificial intelligence.
Source: Accra Street Journal
Last Updated on March 9, 2026 by Samuel Kwame Boadu
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Samuel Kwame Boadu is a Ghanaian media entrepreneur and storyteller with a passion for amplifying urban voices and uncovering everyday truths. He is the Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Accra Street Journal, a dynamic digital platform dedicated to capturing the pulse of Ghana’s capital—its people, culture, challenges, business, sports and innovations.
