Strive Masiyiwa AI factories in Africa could transform the continent’s digital future. The Zimbabwean billionaire has announced a $720 million investment to build five artificial intelligence factories in major markets.
The first factory is already under construction in South Africa. It will run on 3,000 Nvidia processors, giving African researchers and start-ups access to the kind of computing power they often have to source overseas.
The project forms part of Cassava Technologies’ “Sovereign AI Cloud” strategy. The plan is to give African nations the ability to host and manage their own AI systems.
“Our AI factory provides the infrastructure for innovation to scale, empowering African businesses, start-ups, and researchers,” Masiyiwa said. “Now they don’t have to look beyond Africa to get it.”
Factories will also be built in Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco. All five are expected to be running by late 2026.
At present, only about 5% of African AI talent has access to high-performance computing. Without it, training advanced AI models is almost impossible.
The Strive Masiyiwa AI factories in Africa will help bridge that gap, allowing local innovators to develop tools in health, education, agriculture and finance. Much of the power from the South African site has already been reserved by African researchers and developers.
The AI factories will be linked to Cassava’s broader ecosystem, which includes Africa Data Centres, Liquid Intelligent Technologies and Liquid C2. These firms already provide data storage, internet connectivity and cybersecurity services across the continent.
Cassava has also signed partnerships with Microsoft, AWS, Google and Anthropic to support African developers.
Strive Masiyiwa, worth around $1.3 billion, built Econet Wireless into one of Africa’s largest telecoms groups. His $720m plan for AI factories is his boldest move yet, aiming to secure Africa’s place in the global AI race and keep sensitive data on the continent.
The Strive Masiyiwa AI factories in Africa are expected to lower costs for governments and start-ups, reduce reliance on foreign cloud providers, and give African innovators the tools to compete on a global stage.
