More than 2 900 leaders from government and industry gathered for Huawei South Africa Connect 2026 to explore what it will take for South African organisations to move AI beyond isolated pilots and into adoption at scale.
Held under the theme Where Innovation Shapes the Future, the event treated South Africa’s first-place AI readiness ranking in sub-Saharan Africa as a starting point, with sessions on where AI can deliver in public services, energy, finance, telecommunications and education.
The event opened with communications minister Solly Malatsi, who framed South Africa’s digital future as a question of participation rather than technology alone. He said connectivity and affordable devices are the immediate priorities for widening access to the digital economy.
“We have a responsibility to ensure that we don’t only view AI as a threat to be feared, nor as a trend to be followed lightly. Instead, we should see it as one of the greatest opportunities of our time to solve some of our most pressing developmental challenges,” said Malatsi.
Will Meng, CEO of Huawei South Africa, opened his keynote by reflecting on the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, where South Africa joined as a founding member of the new World AI Cooperation Organisation. He outlined a three-stage path to AI readiness: informatisation builds connectivity, digitalisation puts data to work and intelligence creates new economic value. Meng cited Huawei’s network and grid projects in China as evidence the approach is delivering results.
“Large-scale deployment of artificial intelligence 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,” said Meng.
As organisations move beyond AI pilots, Nicholas Ma, Huawei’s corporate vice president and president of global government and enterprise key accounts, introduced the company’s ACT pathway, a framework for taking enterprises from pilot to full-scale adoption.
ACT identifies high-value use cases before organisations calibrate AI models on industry data. Globally, Huawei says the approach has identified more than 1 000 core production scenarios and built a community of more than four million developers.
“South Africa is currently in a critical leapfrog development phase for AI integration. The AI market size is over R50-billion and is expected to triple by 2030,” said Ma. “By taking bold, decisive steps today, we don’t just secure our own success. We need to build an ecosystem where everyone thrives.”
Kui Zheng, deputy general manager of Huawei South Africa, said 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, he said, including a rail security system that has cut cable theft by 80%.
“The future of AI won’t be built by one company, even Huawei. We couldn’t do that. It will be built by an open ecosystem of partners, developers and customers creating value together,” said Zheng.
The event also featured customers from energy, finance, government IT and telecommunications.
Len de Villiers, group chief technology and information officer at Eskom, said the utility is building an AI-enabled intelligent grid, with 20 AI initiatives across eight business areas. These include predictive maintenance and a microgrid in Limpopo that has connected more than 700 households to reliable power.
“Eskom’s digital transformation is about building an intelligent, secure and inclusive energy platform that can power South Africa’s next era of growth,” said De Villiers.
Standard Bank has moved beyond isolated AI pilots into large-scale deployment through its partnership with Huawei. Khomotso Molabe, CIO of personal and private banking and deputy group CIO at Standard Bank, said the collaboration has consolidated infrastructure across 10 African countries while delivering operating efficiencies. “I believe that this can become an exemplary blueprint for all of you, whether you compete directly with us or whether you are in a different industry,” said Molabe.
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. Lucas Xia, director of enterprise partner development and management at Huawei sub-Saharan Africa, said the network is delivering solutions across industries, including digital twin and municipal services solutions with BCX, smart retail solutions with Altron, connected healthcare solutions with Gijima, and secure paperless government solutions with CoCre8.
“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.
Huawei has operated in South Africa for 27 years under the ethos “In South Africa, for South Africa”, investing in ICT infrastructure to support the country’s digital economy. It said it will continue working with customers and partners to deliver industry-focused solutions.
Huawei and its partners closed the event by jointly launching these solutions.
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