Kathy Gibson reports from Huawei SA Connect 2026 in Sandton – We are living in the golden era of artificial intelligence (AI), and South Africa is well-positioned to seize real value from the technology.
Studies show that AI could contributed as much as R1,4-trillion to the South African economy 2030, adding between 200 000 and 400 000 new jobs.
“It is the new engine for economic growth,” says Kui Zheng, deputy-GM of Huawei SA. “And South Africa is on the edge of Africa’s AI boom as the number one country in sub-Saharan Africa for AI maturity.”
However, there are some core gaps limiting the value that the country can see from AI.
“The real opportunity it not the AI itself, but using it to empower people and industry,” Zheng points out.
To do this, we need to overcome three challenges, he adds.
The first is high-value industry scenarios. The second is infrastructure – South Africa hosts less than 1% of the global AI compute capacity, so plenty of investment needs to be made. And the third is AI and digital talent, with a shortfall or about 200 000 AI and ICT professionals expected by 2030.
For the first challenge, generating real business value, Zheng says AI investments need to move beyond pilots to large-scale applications so they can start generating competitive advantage.
To this end, Huawei is partnering with industries across to South Africa to help them unlock the opportunities.
“AI only delivers value when it solves real business challenges, so we are working with South African customers to transform technology into real-world outcomes.”
Some initiatives include public safety, with smart policing able to analyse emergency calls, pinpoint location and dispatch emergency vehicles.
Smart transportation sees the use of intelligent optical sensor to detect and verify intrusions on the tracks. This solution has led to fewer incidents and an 80% improvement in railway safety.
Smart substations use AI to go from weekly manual inspections to continuous monitoring, and has reduced outages by 50%.
“AI adds value when it solves for industry-specific problems,” Zheng stresses.
All successful outcomes have common foundations, he adds.
“If we just talk about AI, we are talking about castles in the air. I want to emphasise that strong ICT infrastructure, connectivity, computer, storage and an open cloud platform all need to work as one to help attain the AI vision.
“Huawei provides a full stack of the infrastructure needed for AI.”
Equally important, Zheng adds, is the needed for partnering. “We need to build a strong ecosystem in order to create value across every industry, business and community.
“The future of AI will not be built by one company: it required ecosystem partners, developers and customers all working together.”
Huawei is building out its partner ecosystem to meet the AI challenges, helping partners to evolve from IT providers to AI-centric solution providers. In South Africa, the vendor aims to have 500 integration partners, 10 MSP partners, 15 consulting partners and 120 ISV partners.
“Together we will build an AI-ready ecosystem,” Zheng says.
With skills shortages a lived reality for South African organisations, Huawei is also investing in training and skills development.
“Technology transforms industry, but people transform nations,” says Zheng. “And AI will only transform the future if we invest in the people who build and use it.”
Huawei has a long history of skills development in South Africa and has partnered with more than 89 universities and TVET colleges, connected more than 100 rural schools and trained 18 000 South Africans through its LEAP framework.
“This is just the beginning,” Zheng says. “We will continue to work with government, universities and ecosystem partners to make AI accessible to everyone.”
Arguably the most important key to AI success is trust. “As AI becomes more powerful, one question really matters: how do we make it trustworthy?”
Huawei has developed its VIVA framework to address this issue: visibility, interpretability, verifiability and availability.