Local AI cloud project puts over 400 Nvidia GPUs to work

South African cloud provider Stratos Lab, AI infrastructure company Ecoblox, and data centre operator Digital Parks Africa have teamed up to deploy an AI cloud platform in the country, utilizing over 400 Nvidia GPUs. The infrastructure, comprising more than 50 Nvidia B300 HGX servers from Giga Computing, is expected to deliver 7.2 exaflops of computing power and will focus on AI and high-performance computing workloads.

The project will be hosted at Digital Parks Africa's data centre, with Stratos Lab providing cloud and compute services, Ecoblox managing systems integration and deployment, and Ecoblox handling systems integration and infrastructure deployment. The goal is to give African businesses and developers access to high-performance AI computing within the continent, reducing reliance on overseas resources.

Stratos Lab CEO Chris Mostert says the deployment signifies a significant leap for regional innovation, while Ecoblox CEO Doug Makishima emphasizes the need to address AI scaling challenges. Digital Parks Africa's Menno Parsons highlights the importance of a robust physical foundation for ultra-dense AI workloads. Giga Computing will supply the GPU servers, supporting the project with its R&D resources and cost optimization.

Stratos Lab will offer the infrastructure through GPU-as-a-service, managed platform-as-a-service, and bare-metal computing services, targeting workloads like AI model training, inference, and AI-agent applications.