As Africa races towards its AI revolution, China is with it each step of the way

While DeepSeek is helping African nations leapfrog development milestones, there are still challenges ahead, experts say

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Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek could help Africa in its digital transformation, while helping to cement Africa’s relationship with China. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:00pm, 1 Mar 2025

With Chinese start-up DeepSeek poised to help accelerate the development of artificial intelligence (AI) across Africa, China has cemented its presence in the continent’s digital transformation, experts have said.

But, they added, as Africa’s digital landscape speed along, it had also pushed policymakers to build governance frameworks around the new technology.

Through the Digital Silk Road, an initiative Beijing unveiled in 2015, Chinese enterprises have been constructing digital infrastructure, including submarine and terrestrial cables, 5G networks and data centres, said Yu Jia, senior operations officer of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University.

“Thereby they laid the critical hardware foundation for AI development and adoption across the continent,” she said.

Africa is China’s second-largest overseas contracted engineering market. Over the past decade, Chinese enterprises have signed engineering deals in Africa totalling more than US$700 billion, according to China’s State Council.

As of August 2024, 52 African countries, as well as the African Union, have struck agreements with China through its Belt and Road Initiative.

“The adoption and development of AI in Africa is still in its early stages, but it has already demonstrated significant potential, particularly in sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, education and finance,” Yu said.