Snowflake, the AI Data Cloud company, is growing its footprint in South Africa with the launch of its AI Data Cloud on Amazon Web Services’ Cape Town region. This expansion empowers businesses to unlock deeper AI-driven insights, accelerate innovation, and comply with strict local data residency and sovereignty requirements.
This deployment arrives at a critical time when organizations in South Africa are under increasing pressure to comply with local data protection regulations. The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), comparable to Europe’s GDPR, enforces strict rules on how personal data is processed and transferred across borders. Moreover, South Africa’s National Policy on Data and Cloud requires government and public-sector information to remain within national borders. By deploying on AWS Africa (Cape Town), Snowflake not only brings data closer to local enterprises but also enhances customer trust in cloud infrastructure.
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Highlighting the significance of this move, Luan Reineck, Country Manager for South Africa at Snowflake, stated, “Snowflake’s expansion in South Africa is a pivotal step in our commitment to supporting and empowering local organisations with faster, cost-efficient, and secure data solutions that enable customers to meet local data regulations, all without compromising on performance or innovation. With our partnership and local deployment on AWS, organisations in South Africa can leverage the power of Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud to do more with their data and AI, all while retaining control over their data, hosting customer data locally and fostering trust with their end customers.”
Several South African companies, including Carry1st, BluNova, and Mukuru, are already benefiting from Snowflake’s platform. They use the AI Data Cloud to strengthen decision-making, streamline data access, and maximize the potential of AI within a governed and secure environment.
Ziyaad Kumandan, Lead Data Engineer at Carry1st, emphasized the impact, saying, “As we scale our operations at Carry1st, and work with our team across 20 different countries, it’s critical that we have the right technology to make data-driven decisions about the business and our customers. Through Snowflake’s easy, connected, and trusted platform we have been able to reduce infrastructure costs by up to 45%, improve data refresh rates by over 300%, and enable faster insights and enhanced customer interactions.”
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With this local deployment, customers gain greater flexibility in choosing the region that best fits their operational and compliance needs. Beyond its technology, Snowflake is helping shape South Africa’s digital future by working with system integration partners on its One Million Minds initiative. This program equips learners worldwide with advanced AI training, while positioning African businesses to harness the full power of data, accelerate growth, and compete globally.
To celebrate this milestone, Snowflake is hosting a launch event on September 3 at The Old Biscuit Mill in Cape Town, marking the arrival of its AI Data Cloud in the region. The event will spotlight the unmatched scalability, performance, and security Snowflake now offers to South African enterprises.
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