A new cloud partnership will launch Africa’s first “neutral multi-tenant AI factory,” aiming to give cloud providers across the continent access to scalable AI infrastructure. The project is a collaboration between Backbone Connectivity Network (BCN), Zadara and Touchnet.
The new infrastructure, built on Zadara’s multi-tenant platform, will allow cloud providers to deploy and scale AI clouds without each having to build their own data-centre infrastructure. According to the partners, the initiative is designed to address the shortage of AI-ready compute and storage resources in many African markets.
Under the collaboration:
- BCN will host the neutral AI factory infrastructure in Nigeria, enabling multiple cloud providers to share common GPU and storage resources.
- Zadara provides the core multi-tenant cloud storage and compute platform, including GPU-enabled services, enabling heavy AI workloads, data analytics and model training.
- Touchnet and its partners bring cloud-service and deployment expertise, helping deliver sovereign, scalable AI infrastructure tailored to local enterprise needs.
The launch is being hailed as a critical step toward democratizing access to high-performance AI infrastructure in Africa, lowering the barrier to entry for startups, enterprises and service providers that lack resources to build their own data-centres.
The neutral AI factory is expected to accelerate AI adoption across African industries by enabling local data processing, model development and AI services — while avoiding the latency, sovereignty and cost issues associated with relying exclusively on overseas cloud platforms.
