Cassava Technologies has deployed its AI Factory, powered by the NVIDIA AI platform, in South Africa, with plans to expand to Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco as the company moves to build what it describes as a sovereign AI ecosystem for the continent.
The company, which holds the distinction of being Africa’s first NVIDIA Cloud Partner, said the deployment marks a turning point for AI development on the continent by offering GPU-as-a-service and AI-as-a-service capabilities that remove traditional barriers to entry and keep computing infrastructure — and data — within African borders.
Central to the offering is CAIMEx, the Cassava AI Multi-Model Exchange, a platform launched in 2025 that gives African developers unified access to leading AI tools and large language models. Developers can use CAIMEx to build, fine-tune and deploy AI applications using Cassava’s integrated tools, powered by NVIDIA Blueprints, Models and NIM microservices. The company has also launched Cassava Autonomous Network, a blueprint running on CAIMEx designed to improve network performance across Africa and available for mobile network operators to use.
Ahmed El Beheiry, group chief operating officer and group chief technology and AI officer at Cassava Technologies, said the initiative is about empowerment as much as technology. “As the continent’s first NVIDIA Cloud Partner, we are ensuring that African businesses aren’t just consumers of global tech — they are the architects of it,” he said. He added that the company aims to support AI development in African languages, beginning with Swahili and expanding to languages including Zulu and Afrikaans.
The deployment has drawn support from several partners. Dr. H. Sithole, center manager of the National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System at the CSIR, said the AI Factory enables the organization to extend partnerships with industry and accelerate AI adoption across South African research communities, while keeping data within African borders to develop specialized models for sectors including healthcare, energy and agriculture.
Celina Lee, CEO and co-founder of Zindi, said the partnership with Cassava will allow the developer community to build AI solutions to local problems without data leaving the continent. “We are investing in the next generation of AI talent and creating the high-tech skills and jobs that will position Africa to lead in the global AI race,” she said.
Haseeb Budhani, CEO of Rafay Systems, described the sovereign AI cloud as “the ultimate engine for digital transformation,” saying it would allow businesses and governments to harness powerful AI applications while ensuring data remains on the continent.
Cassava said the AI Factory will serve enterprises and governments across sectors including public services, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, healthcare, mining, oil and gas and retail.
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