Huawei South Africa Connect 2026 Draws 2,900 Leaders to Explore AI Scaling Across Industries

According to Huawei, 2,900 government and industry leaders gathered today at Huawei South Africa Connect 2026 to examine how AI and intelligent digital infrastructure can help South African organisations adopt AI at scale. South Africa ranks first in Sub-Saharan Africa for AI readiness.

Solly Malatsi, Minister of the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, opened the event, calling for closer partnership between government and industry to widen access to South Africa's digital economy. He stated that AI should be viewed as "one of the greatest opportunities of our time to solve some of our most pressing developmental challenges."

Kui Zheng, Deputy General Manager of Huawei South Africa, highlighted AI's economic potential, saying the technology could contribute between R1 trillion and R1.4 trillion to South Africa's economy by 2030 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 percent.