Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa eyes South Africa and Kenya for AI data centre expansion with Vodacom

Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa's Cassava Technologies is strengthening its position in Africa's artificial intelligence infrastructure market, with Vodacom confirming its participation in a $1 billion Egyptian data centre project and considering similar developments in South Africa and Kenya.

Vodacom disclosed its involvement in the Egyptian venture in its interim results published on November 10. The project brings together Vodafone Egypt, Cassava Technologies and Egyptian industrial group Elsewedy Electric to develop what the partners describe as Egypt's largest data centre and its first sovereign AI data centre.

Vodacom Group chief executive Shameel Joosub said the project would cost approximately $1 billion over the next few years. Vodafone Egypt, which is controlled by Vodacom, is expected to hold about 30% of the venture. The investment will be deployed in stages rather than committed upfront.

The first phase is expected to attract approximately $200 million in foreign direct investment and deliver 20 megawatts of capacity within three years. The longer-term plan is to expand the facility to 200 megawatts.

The partnership combines Vodacom's telecommunications network and enterprise customer base, Elsewedy Electric's engineering and infrastructure capabilities, and Cassava's experience in data centres and AI computing.

For Masiyiwa, the development adds another major partnership to Cassava's expanding AI infrastructure ambitions. The company has been working with Nvidia to deploy advanced computing infrastructure across African markets, allowing businesses to access graphics processing units without building their own expensive facilities.

In a related development, Billionaires.Africa previously reported on Masiyiwa's plan to deploy 12,000 Nvidia GPUs across five African markets. The rollout, valued at up to $720 million, covers South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria.

Vodacom's latest announcement also points to opportunities beyond Egypt. Chief executive Shameel Joosub identified South Africa and Kenya as potential locations for additional AI data centres, describing them as important markets for the telecommunications group. Planning for both markets remains at an early stage, with Vodacom seeking partners to share the financial and technical requirements.

The company intends to use joint ventures to reduce the capital burden of developing large-scale computing facilities while retaining stakes in the infrastructure and using its customer relationships to sell data centre services.

Africa currently accounts for less than 1% of global data centre capacity, despite growing demand for cloud computing, artificial intelligence and locally hosted digital services. The infrastructure gap has attracted investment from telecommunications operators, technology companies and international investors.

Masiyiwa built his fortune through telecommunications, founding Econet Wireless before expanding into digital infrastructure through Cassava Technologies. The group owns businesses including Liquid Intelligent Technologies and Africa Data Centres and operates across multiple markets.

The Vodacom partnership gives Cassava another major telecommunications partner as it works to establish the computing infrastructure required to support Africa's growing digital economy. It also places Masiyiwa's company at the centre of a project that could help position Egypt as a regional hub for AI computing.