Ghana secures major AI deal with Chinese tech giant as $250M AI centre and 5G plans advance

The Minister for Communications, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, has secured a multi-million-dollar deal with Huawei Technologies to provide free artificial intelligence (AI) training for girls in Ghana under the government’s flagship ICT for Girls Programme.

The agreement was reached during a meeting between Minister George and Huawei Senior Vice President Steven Yi at the Mobile World Congress (MWC26) in Barcelona, Spain.

In an exclusive interview with Techfocus24, Minister George explained that Huawei’s interest in Ghana’s technology ecosystem, including the planned US$250 million AI Compute Centre, rural telephony expansion and 5G rollout, formed the basis of the partnership. “We agreed that Huawei must give back to Ghana through free AI training under the Girls in ICT Programme,” he said.

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Currently, the programme provides two-week training modules in coding, animation and basic computing. “But with Huawei coming on board, we are going to have a crash programme in AI skills,” the Minister added. “For me this is critical because once the girls complete the training, they can join my One Million Coders Programme and gain further skills. This means we are catching them young.”

For 2026, Huawei has instructed its Ghana office to collaborate with the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC) and the Ministry to deliver AI training to 3,000 girls under the initiative.

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Minister George also revealed discussions on a Huawei handheld device assembling plant in Ghana, aimed at producing affordable smart devices for local and regional markets. “We made clear to Huawei that quality and affordability are critical, and we will not compromise on that,” he said. He noted that over 90% of Ghanaians have 4G coverage but actual usage is below 60% because many cannot afford smartphones.

He added that the plant would help bridge the affordability gap, increasing access to both 4G and 5G-enabled devices across the country.