Cassava Technologies is moving to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in South Africa, with plans to build a second AI factory, in Johannesburg, as its Cape Town AI factory prepares to go live.
The technology services group’s founder and chairman, Strive Masiyiwa, announced in March 2025 its plans for the company’s first AI factory located in Cape Town.
In March 2026, Masiyiwa announced the company had already begun with the building blocks of its Cape AI factory, powered by Nvidia's AI platform.
In an interview with ITWeb, Ziaad Suleman, CEO of Cassava South Africa and Botswana, outlined the company’s broader continental strategy, anchored in high-performance computing, connectivity and data centre investments.
This forms part of the company’s strategy to upgrade its local data centres, providing African businesses, governments and researchers with access to the latest AI computing capacity, he noted.
The AI factories, he said, will help clients develop smarter AI products, streamline operations and stay competitive in a fast-changing world.
Despite the nationwide reach of the Cape Town factory, Cassava is actively preparing for a second AI factory, in Johannesburg, which is expected to significantly expand capacity, he pointed out.
“What we have is a further aspiration of doing another AI factory here in Johannesburg. The plan is to leverage our existing data centre footprint, where we have space for a 20MW installation. That will become another large AI factory.”
Suleman added that strong early interest in the Cape Town facility is accelerating plans for the Johannesburg rollout.
“The attraction to what we are building has been immense and very exciting. Based on that demand, the Johannesburg AI factory is just around the corner. We want to get Cape Town fully operational, and then scale quickly.”
Once the Cape Town facility goes live, it is expected to evolve rapidly into a fully operational environment as additional services are deployed.
“Our AI factory goes live in Cape Town soon, with our first deployment already in place. Over the next four to six weeks, additional services will come on board, building this into a fully-fledged AI factory. This is the starting point for us.”
Suleman noted that the Cape Town facility is already equipped to support demand across SA, including Johannesburg, through connectivity into the company’s data centre ecosystem.
The company previously said collaborating with Nvidia, which processes technologies for computers and phones, gives Cassava the advanced computing capabilities needed to drive Africa’s AI innovation, while strengthening the continent’s digital independence.
According to Nvidia, an AI factory is a specialised computing system built to turn data into intelligence. It manages the full AI lifecycle – from collecting and training data, to fine-tuning and running large-scale AI models. Its main output is actionable intelligence that powers automation, decision-making and new AI solutions.
The chipmaker says unlike traditional data centres, which handle general computing tasks, AI factories are purpose-built for AI workloads.
South African tech companies have, over the past two years, been jostling to establish and run industrial-scale AI operations.
In 2024, Dell Technologies became the first company in SA to announce the launch of its AI factory, in partnership with Nvidia. One year later, the company announced a broad set of AI enhancements offered through the factory.
In October, South African technology group Altron announced its AI factory, also developed in collaboration with Nvidia, The factory, which went live in the same month, offers partners AI infrastructure, tools, training and support, while maintaining data sovereignty and regulatory compliance, it said.
Beyond SA’s borders
Cassava provides a vertically-integrated ecosystem of digital solutions and infrastructure, enabling digital transformation for African firms.
Described as global tech company of African heritage, the group now counts search engine giant Google and $5 trillion-valued Nvidia among its shareholders.
According to Suleman, Cassava’s AI ambitions extend well beyond SA, with plans to scale AI factories across multiple African markets as demand grows.
“Once we have the Johannesburg facility [AI factory] in place, our reach into Africa allows us to expand further. Our aspiration is to deploy between 12 000 and 13 000 GPUs across the continent. That level of scale will naturally drive expansion into additional regions,” noted Suleman.
“We have data centre presence in Nigeria and Kenya, so it makes sense to continue building from there. We are also looking at North Africa, including Morocco and Egypt, as part of our broader vision. We will announce later in which countries exactly the AI factories will be built, but essentially, we will follow our roadmap. The exact rollout will depend on demand, investment and capacity.”
“The localised deployment of high-performance computing marks a turning point for the continent. By offering GPUaaS, AIaaS/APIs, Cassava is removing traditional barriers to entry, providing access to local compute. With this first milestone, Cassava will ensure Africa has its own production of intelligence – sovereign AI factories keep intelligence securely within borders, tune models to local languages and cultures, and cultivate local jobs, start-ups and economic growth,” said the company in a statement at the time.
Partner participation
A key component of Cassava’s strategy is its ability to integrate connectivity, data centres and AI compute into a unified platform that can support enterprise, SMEs and public sector needs, it states.
“Our connectivity spans over 110 000km of fibre across the continent, supported by subsea cables, satellite and microwave links. When you combine that with our data centres and AI compute capabilities, you have a complete digital ecosystem. That is what enables true digital transformation.” Suleman commented.
Cassava subsidiary Liquid C2 recently introduced a Johannesburg-based AI and cloud experience centre, in partnership with Google.
Suleman added that partnerships with global technology players, such as Google, are helping the firm to bring advanced AI capabilities into African markets.
“We take the best of global R&D and infuse it into what we are building locally. This allows us to deliver advanced solutions to enterprises, small businesses and citizens. The goal is to ensure that no African is left behind.”
Workforce ‘realignment’
Suleman emphasised that the rollout of AI factories and centres of excellence are also expected to stimulate job creation and innovation, particularly through partnerships with developers and emerging businesses.
“These initiatives create real opportunity because they enable developers and partners to solve on-the-ground challenges. As they build solutions, they require teams to execute, and we also need teams to support and scale the platform. That is how employment and entrepreneurship start to grow.”
Last month, Cassava confirmed to ITWeb that employees at its subsidiary Liquid Intelligent Technologies South Africa have been offered voluntary retrenchment packages.
This, after it sent an internal memo informing employees that it has introduced voluntary severance and early retirement packages, in a move aimed at aligning its workforce with a new operating model.
“Cassava Technologies is undergoing a strategic transformation to become a more agile, solutions-driven enterprise,” said Suleman in a statement sent to ITWeb at the time.
“As part of this journey to strengthen our organisational maturity, we are realigning our workforce to support our new business model.”
Cassava Technologies has been repositioning itself from a traditional connectivity provider into a broader digital services group. This type of transition often requires different skill sets, forcing some organisations to reassess their workforce structure.
The latest move comes as telecommunications and technology firms introduce another wave of hiring freezes and retrenchments in response to shifting market dynamics.
These include rising demand for digital solutions, cloud services and integrated connectivity offerings, as well as the introduction of AI and automation across workflows.
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