Johannesburg — Cassava Technologies has entered into a strategic collaboration with Accenture to scale sovereign AI capabilities across Africa, in a move that underscores the growing importance of data sovereignty in the region’s digital transformation.
Accenture will deploy its AI Refinery platform, built with Nvidia AI Enterprise, to deliver sovereign AI solutions powered by Cassava’s GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) housed in its secure, energy-efficient data centres. The infrastructure, accelerated with Nvidia’s AI computing technology, will allow African enterprises to process AI workloads and data within national borders, ensuring compliance with local requirements and regulations.
The rollout will begin in South Africa, before expanding to Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria, aligned with Cassava’s pan-African data centre expansion. These facilities are interconnected by Cassava’s high-speed, ultra-low-latency fibre broadband network, designed to support AI computing workloads at scale.
A key feature of the collaboration is the development of AI solutions tailored to Africa’s unique contexts — integrating local languages, cultural nuances, and market realities. This localized approach aims to strengthen compliance and trust while ensuring the solutions deliver relevance and impact for enterprises in sectors such as financial services, mining, telecoms, agriculture, and healthcare.
Cassava has committed to investing in infrastructure and platform build-out with a strong focus on scalability, security, and compliance, reinforcing its vision of responsible AI adoption and sustainable innovation.
By combining Cassava’s pan-African infrastructure with Accenture’s AI expertise, the initiative seeks to position Africa as a leader in sovereign AI, enabling businesses to innovate meaningfully while safeguarding data sovereignty and driving productivity growth.
