South African data centre to receive major AI upgrades

Cassava Technologies, the owner of Africa Data Centres, has announced plans to build Africa’s first AI factory by upgrading its data centres with Nvidia AI computing technology, which will be deployed in South Africa.

The London-based company said this will give African businesses, governments, and researchers access to the supercomputers and software needed to train AI.

Cassava said the Nvidia-powered computing and AI software that employs Nvidia Cloud Partner architectures will be deployed at Africa Data Centre facilities in South Africa, followed by data centres in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria.

The supercomputers powering the data centres will be Nvidia GPU-based, allowing for faster AI model training and fine-tuning, Cassava said.

Using its ultra-low latency fibre optic network, Cassava plans to deliver AI-as-a-Service across the continent using the computing power in its AI-enabled data centres.

“Building digital infrastructure for the AI economy is a priority if Africa is to take full advantage of the fourth industrial revolution,” said Cassava Technologies founder and chairperson Strive Masiyiwa.

“Our AI Factory provides the infrastructure for this innovation to scale, empowering African businesses, startups and researchers with access to cutting-edge AI infrastructure to turn their bold ideas into real-world breakthroughs — and now, they don’t have to look beyond Africa to get it.”

Masiyiwa added that its partnership with Nvidia has allowed the computing capabilities needed to drive Africa’s AI innovation and strengthen its digital independence.

“As an NVIDIA Cloud Partner, Cassava is providing essential infrastructure and software to help pioneering companies and organizations accelerate AI development to foster innovation across the continent,” said Nvidia EMEA VP Jaap Zuiderveld.

“AI is helping innovators solve our greatest challenges in agriculture, healthcare, energy, financial services and many other industries, creating opportunity in Africa.”

Cassava believes that by having access to the network of data centres, African businesses and governments can develop local solutions to local challenges that are compliant with global regulations.

The company, which was formerly the Liquid Group, has been facing some significant financial problems recently.

Cassava announced in December that it raised $90 million (R1.7 billion), with participation from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation (Finnfund), and Google.

Subsidiary Liquid Intelligent Technologies also refinanced its long-term loan on a multi-tenor basis, with Standard Bank, Rand Merchant Bank, Nedbank, and International Finance Corporation providing a new R4-billion debt facility.

Then in February, it announced ten executive changes at various divisions within the company earlier this year, including the appointment of Ziaad Suleman as CEO of its South African business.

At the same time, former Liquid South Africa CEO Deon Geyser was appointed CEO of Liquid Networks for Cassava, where he will oversee the company’s broadband portfolio across Africa.