Cassava Technologies has already begun with the building blocks of its artificial intelligence (AI) factory in the Mother City, Cape Town, having recently acquired 12 000 Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs).
This is according to Strive Masiyiwa, Cassava founder and chairman, delivering a keynote address at Africa Tech Festival 2025 this morning, and updating attendees about his company’s AI factory.
Recounting his travels to Silicon Valley a few months ago, Masiyiwa said he met Nvidia founder Jensen Huang and signed an agreement to purchase the first GPUs for the African continent.
“They told us there were only 80 Nvidia GPUs [available] on the African continent,” he stated. “I said to Mr Huang, I wanted 12 000.
“The 12 000 GPUs are being distributed across five sites. They are already here [Cape Town] and being installed at a site just outside the city. The data centre is being built…there were about 28 containerised shipments that were flown in with the GPUs. And we’re already onboarding customers.”
Cassava Technologies provides a vertically-integrated ecosystem of digital solutions and infrastructure, enabling digital transformation for African firms.
Described as global tech company of African heritage, Cassava now counts search engine giant Google and $5 trillion-valued Nvidia among its shareholders.
Earlier this year, the company announced plans to build an African AI factory in SA, noting that expansion is planned at its other data centre facilities in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria at a later stage.
Masiyiwa said his company is working with the DeepMind team that is responsible for Google Gemini, which means Cassava will play the role of integrating all the mobile operators. “We’ve already began to integrate mobile operators who will feedback into our AI factories.
“This is a huge step for us, because it means that you and your customers can offer the Gemini app, we’ve already integrated Anthropic’s Claude AI] app…and many of you are already using it through our teams here,” he said, adding that the company will be joined by OpenAI’s team later today. “This is huge for us.”
He invited Accenture senior managing director Dave Wood to detail how businesses on the continent can leverage AI.
“This incredible AI technology, this raw compute isn’t where the long-term value is going to be created. The long-term value, we believe, will come when you can capture and harness the intelligence that gets produced from this technology. That is our goal here in Africa. We’re going to take the intelligence, curate it and make it fit-for-purpose for African industries.
“We’re going curate accessible, high-impact, compliant industry solutions delivered through Cassava’s AI factory.”
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