Altron Launches South Africa’s First AI Factory

South African technology giant Altron has launched the country’s first fully operational AI Factory, marking a major milestone in local artificial intelligence infrastructure and innovation.

Powered by Nvidia AI Enterprise technology and hosted in a Teraco Nvidia AI-Ready data centre, the factory is already live and serving five launch clients. The initiative positions South Africa as a regional hub for scalable, sovereign AI deployment.

The AI Factory offers businesses enterprise-grade infrastructure, tools, and deployment services through an AI-as-a-Service model. This approach eliminates traditional barriers such as high setup costs, offshore dependencies, and lengthy integration timelines.

“Our AI factory gives businesses immediate access to enterprise AI infrastructure and the expertise to use it effectively,” said Mike Wright, Executive for Data & AI at Altron Digital Business. “The foundation is ready. That’s transformative.”

A defining feature of the platform is its focus on data sovereignty. All workloads and data are hosted locally within South African jurisdiction, ensuring compliance with regulatory and security frameworks.

“This deployment within a Nvidia AI-Ready data centre directly addresses the critical need for data sovereignty,” noted Di Buijs, Head of Channel and Public Sector at Teraco.

Altron says the AI Factory will serve as a launchpad for local innovation, empowering developers, startups, and enterprises to design AI solutions tailored to South Africa’s unique linguistic, cultural, and infrastructural contexts.

Dr. Bongani Andy Mabaso, Altron Group CTO, emphasized the balance between international excellence and local relevance.

“We’re not choosing between global technology excellence and local context, we’re combining both,” he said.

By bringing high-performance AI capabilities home, Altron’s new facility aims to accelerate digital transformation and strengthen South Africa’s standing in the global AI ecosystem.