Weekly Briefing | Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is no stranger to foreign involvement, whether that be through aid, investment or colonial expeditions. Following the predictable pattern of recent years, Sub Saharan Africa is now reckoning with the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and foreign interest in the region’s digital economy. With the release of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) recent report on the potential of AI in Sub-Saharan Africa, the period going forward will be crucial for asserting its power as a key stakeholder in the digital conversation. More strikingly, its bargaining power could provide an opportunity to reconfigure foreign investment and policy by engaging in South-South cooperation for a more sustainable structuring of Sub-Saharan Africa’s digital economy.

As of July 2026, the IMF published a report on AI in Sub-Saharan Africa and the potential benefits that the widespread introduction of Artificial Intelligence could bring. The benefits mentioned are mostly within the financial realm, with the organisation citing that- dependent on policy choice- productivity could increase by between 0.2% and 2.1% in the next decade and GDP could increase by 0.5% within the same time frame. However, there are a host of factors that may disrupt this positive prognosis such as limited and unstable electricity across the region, very little digital capacity and a lack of technical skills. It is within this context of an emerging data economy that one can see that international companies have begun steady competition over South African resources for AI investors. Here, the country has an opportunity to leverage its resources to not simply become an active stakeholder in the scheme of the Global North, but to rather consider Southern partnership as a strategic and viable option.

South Africa has approximately 88% of global platinum-group metal reserves which are essential components for the semiconductor and data centre supplies which are responsible for AI infrastructure. With this in mind, both Huawei and Microsoft have developed offers for South Africa regarding building the country’s AI infrastructure. The former committed to the cheap provision of a large language model using South African infrastructure and the latter pledged ZAR 5.4 billion for cloud and AI infrastructure in 2027.

Many news outlets have raised concerns about South Africa’s agency within these deals and the importance for the country to assert its agency within the process, as an active stakeholder in the implementation. With this viewpoint in mind, one could promote South Africa’s autonomy as an economic bargaining chip which could resist the typical pattern of extraction which is so prevalent in this region. By utilising its resources, South Africa could advance its own interests and shift itself onto a global stage as an active rather than passive actor. However, while this may benefit the country in some respects, one cannot ignore the social and environmental implications of AI which will cause damage, irrespective of who holds the monopoly over the burgeoning industry. With this in mind, given the sheer size of South Africa’s reserves and the almost frenzied global demand for AI, the country could bargain more boldly and reform digital development using Southern cooperation within which the region is not simply a stakeholder, but a sustainable leader which centres the environment and equity.

The primary focus in this South-South cooperation should be that digitisation is not a ‘one size fits all’ policy and that AI should not be recklessly introduced into the region, especially with the growing knowledge of its adverse environmental effects as well as the inequality which plagues many involved countries. The resources at their disposal should be used to inform equitable development through highly regulated data and to alleviate the climate crisis by using the opportunities that technology affords to track and regulate carbon emissions -- using blockchain technology -- and work towards Sustainable Development Goals that work for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa has an opportunity to rewire foreign investment and relationships as a result of the global demand for Artificial Intelligence. South Africa is due to release its revised National AI policy after withdrawal in January 2027, and it remains to be seen how the highly resourced country aims to balance digital growth, foreign investment and environmentalism.