Vodafone Business and Cassava Technologies Announce Egypt’s First AI Factory

Vodafone Business and Cassava Technologies have announced a strategic partnership to develop sovereign artificial intelligence infrastructure in Egypt and launch the country’s first AI factory.

The planned facility will support the local operation of a range of AI applications and use cases. The partners said the infrastructure will allow data to be hosted and processed within Egypt while meeting regulatory requirements.

Locally hosted computing

Through Vodafone Business, organisations and government entities in Egypt will be able to access NVIDIA AI infrastructure. The offering will include GPU-as-a-Service, giving users access to accelerated computing capabilities without requiring all of the infrastructure to be developed independently.

The partnership will also provide specialised training and enablement programmes within the NVIDIA ecosystem. Cassava Technologies is described as the first NVIDIA cloud partner in Africa.

Mahmoud El-Khatib, Vice President of Enterprise Business at Vodafone Egypt, said the arrangement would support the development of sovereign AI solutions by combining globally developed technologies with local data residency.

“Through this collaboration, we are strengthening Egypt’s AI infrastructure capabilities and developing sovereign AI solutions by leveraging locally hosted global technologies that ensure data residency within Egypt,” El-Khatib said.

He added that GPU-as-a-Service would help organisations access advanced computing more efficiently and support Egypt’s ambitions for a more competitive digital economy.

Investment and digital infrastructure

Vodafone Egypt said the AI factory forms part of its plan to invest more than EGP 20 billion during the current fiscal year. The company has also reported investing more than EGP 125 billion in Egypt over 28 years.

The partners said local hosting and processing could strengthen data control and protection, improve cybersecurity and support wider adoption of advanced technologies. They also said the initiative is intended to attract investment, support digital-economy growth and create jobs in technology and innovation.

They further described the collaboration as a step toward positioning Egypt as a regional centre for AI and technology, while strengthening the country’s ability to attract AI-related investment and advanced data centres.

Partners’ regional operations

Vodafone Egypt is described as a telecommunications company focused on digital infrastructure and digital services. It launched the Vodafone Cash mobile wallet and established the Vodafone Egypt Foundation for Community Development in 2003.

Cassava Technologies provides digital services and infrastructure and is headquartered in the United Kingdom, with a presence across Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the United States of America. Its listed business units include Cassava AI, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Liquid C2, Africa Data Centres and Sasai Fintech.

Ahmed El Beheiry, Group Chief Technology and AI Officer and CEO of Cassava AI, said the partnership was intended to help Egypt develop its technology sector while maintaining control over its infrastructure and data.

“For Cassava, contributing to building Egypt’s AI ecosystem is an act of empowerment, not just a technological milestone,” El Beheiry said.