In Marrakech, under the spotlights of the Gitex Africa, Huawei left no doubt about his ambitions. By organizing its own summit on the sidelines of the show, the Chinese group has shown that it was no longer content to be a telecom supplier. It is now positioned as a structuring actor in the African digital future. Cloud, artificial intelligence, critical infrastructure, training: Huawei orchestrates an overall strategy where others, like Orange, are struggling to go beyond their role as operator.
This rise in power is not played in the din of commercial ads, but in the progressive network of institutional alliances, public partnerships, and discreet but dilty technological diplomacy.
A methodical grip on critical infrastructure
For more than ten years, Huawei has been teaming African operators in mobile networks, from 3G to 5G. In several countries, its technologies constitute the framework of national telecommunications. The group does not stop at the networks: it also develops datacenters, provides cloud infrastructure and secures whole sections of public digital services.
With its Huawei Cloud branch, the company aims to unify technological bricks by offering an integrated model combining Cloud, AI and Cybersecurity. “In Africa, Huawei Cloud undertakes to build an intelligent cloud infrastructure at the service of the telecommunications sector, while accelerating intelligence in other sectors thanks to a systemic innovation articulating AI for the Cloud and the Cloud for AI,” said Ahmed Talaat, CTO of Huawei Cloud Northern Africa.
Influence by ecosystem
The Huawei Intelligent Africa Summit, organized on the fringes of the Gitex, perfectly embodies the group’s influence strategy. Through this summit, Huawei claims a posture of a strategic partner, involved in political reflection, the formation of talents and the structuring of digital ecosystems.
“We will continue our collaboration with all stakeholders around the fundamental pillars of AI development – public policies, technology, ecosystem and talent – to accelerate intelligence and build a new Africa together,” said Shen Li, president of Huawei Northern Africa.
This positioning is accompanied by a massive effort in terms of training: Huawei multiplies partnerships with African universities, supports technological incubators and finances acculturation programs with artificial intelligence. The group thus intends to anchor its model in local dynamics, while ensuring the technical dependence of partner institutions to its solutions.
Local windows for continental legitimacy
To establish its legitimacy, Huawei relies on strategic sectoral partnerships. The case of Attijariwafa Bank, mentioned at the summit, is an illustration. “After having established effective and centralized governance, Attijariwafa Bank triggered a new strategic phase: making data a real performance lever,” said Marouane Akrab, manager of the Bank digital center.
The experience of the Moroccan institution serves as a showcase here: AI applied to concrete cases makes it possible to illustrate the promise of a controlled digital transformation, useful and anchored in business needs. Huawei takes it to demonstrate the value of its solutions in specific African contexts, far from imported models.
An integrated model, a risk of dependence
Huawei not only sells technologies: he offers a vision. A complete, structured vision, where each brick – training, connectivity, cloud, artificial intelligence – is supplied turnkey. This approach appeals to many African decision -makers in search of digital acceleration. But it also includes major risks.
In a context where few countries have robust regulatory frameworks in data governance, the vertical integration proposed by Huawei creates a strong dependence. Who controls flows? Who defines the standards? Who guarantees sovereignty? To these questions, the Huawei model does not always provide a clear answer.
The silent tilting of digital power
Far from Sino-American technological clashes, Huawei deploys a patient influence strategy in Africa, specifies, little publicized but effective. The company occupies the vacuum left by Western actors sometimes disengaged or focused on models of short -term profitability.
Faced with an orange with recurrent regional ambitions but uneven execution, Huawei offers a structuring project.
For Africa, the challenge is put your own conditionsbuild your own standards, and demand a technological interoperability which allows him to keep his freedom of action. Because behind the promise of an inclusive AI is a silent battle for the control of the future digital standards of the continent.
