• Cassava, STANLIB to expand AI-ready data centers in South Africa
• Project supports rising demand for cloud, connectivity, and digital infrastructure
• Follows Nvidia partnership to launch Africa’s first AI factory in South Africa
  

Pan-African technology group Cassava Technologies announced on October 29 a partnership with STANLIB Infrastructure Investments to develop next-generation data centers in South Africa. The agreement includes expanding Africa Data Centres (ADC) campuses in Johannesburg and Cape Town to make them compatible with artificial intelligence applications.

The new facilities are designed to meet rising demand for high-capacity digital infrastructure, secure connectivity, and cloud services in South Africa’s rapidly growing digital economy.

“Partnering with STANLIB strengthens our South African operations and validates the robust foundation we’ve built,” said Cassava Technologies President and CEO Hardy Pemhiwa. “It provides us the scale required to serve major hyperscalers and enterprises as they rapidly increase their demand for secure, high-capacity connectivity and cloud services across the region.”

STANLIB Infrastructure Investments, one of Southern Africa’s leading asset managers, sees the partnership as both an economic and technological opportunity. “Data centres are critical infrastructure for the modern economy, and our investment will strengthen South Africa’s digital backbone, enabling ADC to contribute meaningfully to the country’s growth,” said Andy Louw, Co-Head of Infrastructure Investments at STANLIB.

The investment will allow Africa Data Centres, a subsidiary of Cassava Technologies, to expand its operational capacity, improve energy efficiency, and build facilities optimized for AI workloads and high-performance computing.

With seven state-of-the-art data centers across the continent and more than 400 corporate clients, Africa Data Centres has become a key player in Africa’s digital transformation. The partnership follows Cassava Technologies’ recent collaboration with Nvidia to establish Africa’s first artificial intelligence factory in South Africa.

The planned data center, equipped with Nvidia’s advanced accelerated computing technologies, aims to deliver large-scale AI and cloud services across the continent while promoting data sovereignty and local data storage.

Together, these initiatives are expected to create an integrated network of data centers that will drive the adoption of artificial intelligence, accelerate Africa’s digital transformation, and strengthen the continent’s position in the global data economy.

Samira Njoya