Vodafone Business and Cassava Technologies has entered into a strategic partnership to develop and enable advanced sovereign AI infrastructure in Egypt through the launch of the country’s first AI factory for operating diverse AI applications and use cases locally.
This step aims to position Egypt as a regional hub for artificial intelligence and technology, enhance the country’s ability to host and process data, and leverage NVIDIA accelerated computing technologies through Vodafone’s partnership with Cassava Technologies, the first NVIDIA cloud partner in Africa. .
The impact of this partnership extends to government entities, key industry sectors, and consumers by providing full-stack AI infrastructure that supports local data hosting and processing in compliance with regulatory requirements. This enhances cybersecurity, offers greater control over data and its protection, accelerates the adoption of modern technologies, and enables organizations to develop more efficient and innovative AI solutions and services. It will also attract investments, support digital economy growth, and create new job opportunities in technology and innovation.
Mahmoud El-Khatib, vice president of enterprise business at Vodafone Egypt, said: “Our partnership with Cassava Technologies marks a pivotal step in Vodafone Egypt’s technology journey and reflects our continued commitment to investing in digital infrastructure that enhances Egypt’s readiness for advanced technologies.
“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. This is achieved through the delivery of GPU-as-a-Service, enabling organizations to access advanced computing capabilities more efficiently and rapidly, supporting the country’s vision of building a more competitive digital economy, enhancing digital sovereignty, and attracting new investments in advanced cutting-edge technologies.”
“For Cassava, contributing to building Egypt’s AI ecosystem is an act of empowerment, not just a technological milestone. We are ensuring that African businesses aren’t just consumers of global tech – they are the architects of it,” said Ahmed El Beheiry, group chief technology & AI officer, CEO Cassava AI.
“Our goal, from this partnership with Vodafone, is to give Egypt the infrastructure to unlock the potential of its technology industry and to allow it to contribute to the global AI innovation scene, without compromising sovereignty.”
This partnership enables organisations and government entities in Egypt to access NVIDIA AI infrastructure through Vodafone Business as a strategic partner, enhancing their ability to develop and operate AI applications at scale.
These capabilities are particularly important given the growing demand for accelerated computing, which forms the backbone of modern AI infrastructure for model training and inference at scale.
Additionally, this collaboration provides access to specialized training and enablement programs in the NVIDIA ecosystem, helping organisations build AI skills and deploy and manage AI solutions more effectively.
This development comes at a time when countries are complementing global public cloud services, with localised sovereign compute and AI-optimised neocloud services.
The partnership also enhances Egypt’s readiness to attract investments related to AI and advanced data centres by combining high-performance computing capabilities with local data hosting, supporting the development of a comprehensive sovereign AI ecosystem and reinforcing Egypt’s position as a regional hub for advanced technology and digital infrastructure.
This step aligns with Vodafone Egypt’s long-term investment strategy in the Egyptian market and its commitment to developing digital infrastructure. The AI factory represents a strategic project within Vodafone Egypt’s plan to invest more than EGP 20 billion during the current fiscal year, building on investments exceeding EGP 125 billion over 28 years, reflecting the company’s confidence in the Egyptian market.
