As artificial intelligence's (AI) economic impact has come into sharp focus, Kui Zheng, deputy general manager of Huawei South Africa, has predicted that AI could contribute between R1 trillion and R1.4 trillion to the country’s economy by the end of the decade.

Addressing Huawei's flagship South Africa Connect 2026, which brought together 2 900 leaders from government and industry – examining how AI and intelligent digital infrastructure can help South African organisations adopt AI at scale – Zheng said AI could create up to 400 000 new jobs.

Deployments, he said, were already underway locally, including a rail security system that has cut cable theft by 80%.

Zheng maintained that the future of AI “won't be built by one company, even Huawei”.

“It will be built by an open ecosystem of partners, developers and customers - creating value together," said Zheng.

Highlighting the challenges rendering the country to lag behind, Zheng said fewer than 35% of South African enterprises have identified where AI unlocked value in their own data.

This, as SA faces a shortfall of around 200 000 AI and ICT professionals by 2030.

In addressing the two major challenges, Zheng said it was crucial to start 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.

According to Lucas Xia, Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa director of enterprise partner development and management, the network is delivering solutions across industries.

This includes a digital twin project with BCX, smart retail with Altron, connected healthcare with Gijima and secure paperless government with CoCre8.

“We have been providing three types of support: innovation, capability and opportunity - growing together with more than 1 400 partners.

“These are rooted in South Africa and empower South Africans,” said Xia.

Under the theme “Where Innovation Shapes the Future,” discussions focused 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.

Solly Malatsi, Minister of the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, has called for closer partnership between government and industry to widen access to South Africa's digital economy.

He said connectivity and affordable devices were immediate priorities.

"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.

Reflecting on the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, where South Africa joined as a founding member of the new World AI Cooperation Organisation, Will Meng, CEO of Huawei South Africa, 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 proof that the approach was already 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, corporate vice president, president of Global Gov. and Enterprise Key Account, 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.

Globally, the approach has identified more than 1 000 core production scenarios and built a community of more than four million ecosystem developers.

Huawei has operated in South Africa for 28 years under the ethos "In South Africa, for South Africa."

The company has over years invested in ICT infrastructure to support the country's digital economy.