HOSTAFRICA has unveiled its dedicated NVIDIA RTX PRO GPU servers at Digital Parks Africa’s (DPA) Samrand data centre, launching its fully localised GPU‑as‑a‑Service offering.
The launch brought together industry leaders, tech partners and customers for a first-hand look at the platform in action, including live demonstrations of the high-performance infrastructure now available locally.
Built to support organisations running Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, rendering, and other data-intensive workloads, the platform is powered by NVIDIA RTX 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs with 96GB of GDDR7 memory. This enables the handling of large‑parameter models, high‑volume inference and enterprise‑grade AI applications within South African borders.
A market reaching maturity
Wiaan Vermaak, Group Chief Commercial Officer at DPA, notes that while Africa has historically been a consumer of AI, its scale, talent, and market potential position it to become a producer of AI technologies and applications.
“HOSTAFRICA’s launch of a local AI-powered hosting cluster shows that the market is maturing towards increased demand for local AI infrastructure, including GPU-as-a-Service, as well as data sovereignty,” he says.
This shift is being driven by organisations embedding AI into their operations to improve efficiency, competitiveness, and innovation – accelerating demand for infrastructure that can support these workloads locally.
Why local hosting is key
As AI adoption grows, the need for localised compute infrastructure becomes increasingly critical.
Hosting GPU workloads locally improves performance by reducing latency and keeping data close to where it is generated and used.
“South African and African businesses are infusing AI into their standard operating procedures to become more efficient and capable, which is driving demand for sovereign AI applications and services,” said Vermaak.
He explained that local GPU hosting provides faster response times and improved performance by keeping data close to where it’s used, while also meeting growing requirements for data control and security in various industries.
The surge in AI applications and services is also driving exponential growth in data centre infrastructure requirements.
South Africa’s real appetite for AI
Johan Smit, Chief Product Officer at HOSTAFRICA, said the launch marks an important moment in the maturity of South Africa’s AI and high‑performance computing ecosystem.
“It signals that the market is no longer simply curious about AI; there is a real demand and a clear shift toward adopting advanced compute capabilities locally,” he said.
He added that partnerships like the one between HOSTAFRICA and DPA are essential to accelerating the availability of advanced computing capabilities in the region. With many shared customers already hosted within Digital Parks Africa’s ecosystem, the availability GPU infrastructure on-site simplifies access, reduces complexity, and improves performance.
A fast-evolving landscape
According to Vermaak, meeting this growing demand requires constant adaptation. “Africa’s GPU‑driven AI landscape is advancing so quickly that infrastructure is beginning to evolve faster than facilities can be built or upgraded. To support GPU workloads effectively, market stability and clearly defined requirements are essential,” he said.
“DPA is AI-ready, and our agility allows us to respond quickly as technologies and customer needs evolve.”
He highlighted that one of the next major developments shaping this evolution is Direct‑to‑Chip (D2C) cooling, which enables more efficient thermal management for high-density AI environments. This positions the facility to support the next wave of GPU hardware while maintaining an energy-efficient approach.
As an open-access, carrier-neutral data centre, DPA is well-positioned to support the next generation of AI technology stacks, providing high-density power and cooling, low-latency interconnectivity, and sovereign-compliant infrastructure through its resilient and adaptable ecosystem.
