As AI moves from experimentation to deployment, South Africa needs to scale adoption across industries.

Speaking at Huawei South Africa Connect 2026 last month, Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi said there is a responsibility to ensure that AI is not viewed as a threat to be feared, but also not as a trend to be followed lightly.

There is a need to view AI as one of the greatest opportunities to solve some of the most pressing developmental challenges, he said.

The event, under the theme ‘Where innovation shapes the future’, was attended by 2 900 leaders from government and industry and focused on how AI and intelligent digital infrastructure can help South African organisations adopt AI at scale.

Discussions centred on how South Africa, ranked first in sub-Saharan Africa for AI readiness, is positioned to turn its AI ambitions and digital foundations into practical results across public services, energy, finance, telecommunications and education, besides others.

In line with this, Malatsi called for closer partnership between government and industry to widen access to South Africa’s digital economy, and pointed to connectivity and affordable devices as immediate priorities.

Meanwhile, Huawei South Africa CEO Will Meng outlined a three-stage path to AI readiness: ‘informatisation’ builds connectivity, digitalisation puts data to work and intelligence creates new economic value, citing Huawei’s network and grid projects in China as proof that the approach is already delivering results.

“Large-scale deployment of AI cannot be built without solid digital infrastructure. As proven by global practices, developing economies seeking to advance intelligence must gradually shore up foundations, including networks, data and industry digitalisation,” he continued.

“The future of AI will not be built by one company, even Huawei. We could not do that. It will be built by an open ecosystem of partners, developers and customers creating value together,” added Huawei South Africa deputy GM Kui Zheng.

He pointed out that AI’s economic impact is already coming into focus, with estimates that AI could contribute between R1-trillion and R1.4-trillion to South Africa’s economy by the end of the decade and create up to 400 000 new jobs.

Deployments are already under way locally, including a rail security system that has cut cable theft by 80%.

However, there are challenges that still need to be addressed, he said, pointing to the fact that fewer than 35% of South African enterprises have identified where AI unlocks value in their own data. Exacerbating this is a predicted shortfall of about 200 000 AI and information and communication technology professionals in South Africa by 2030.

Zheng said addressing both challenges starts with the digital foundations Huawei has already built across the country.

The company’s network now reaches 85-million mobile users through 28 000 base stations, while Huawei optical solutions connect 3.4-million households to broadband.

For enterprise and government customers, Huawei has deployed more than 800 private campus networks, extending connectivity to over 100 hospitals and more than 3 000 schools.

Huawei Cloud operates from three availability zones in South Africa, serving upwards of 300 customers and over 1 000 technology partners.

Huawei’s local partner ecosystem now includes more than 1 400 South African companies, which account for 94.7% of its local revenue and more than 90% of its delivery and service work.

The network is delivering solutions across industries, including a digital twin project with BCX, smart retail with Altron, connected healthcare with Gijima, and secure paperless government with CoCre8, said Huawei sub- Saharan Africa enterprise partner development and management director Lucas Xia.

“We have been providing three types of support: innovation, capability and opportunity, to grow together with more than 1 400 partners. Rooted in South Africa, empowering South Africa,” said Xia.

Meanwhile, Huawei Corporate VP and global government and enterprise key account president Nicholas Ma introduced Huawei’s ACT pathway, a framework for taking enterprises from pilot to full-scale AI adoption.

ACT assesses high-value scenarios before organisations calibrate AI models on high-quality industry data.