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Merck Foundation calls for action together with 13 African First Ladies to Build Healthcare Capacity

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4 years ago

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Merck

More than 10,000 participants attended the hybrid Luminary – onsite and online

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, November 29, 2022/APO Group/ — 

Prof. Dr. Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp, Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej and African First Ladies of Botswana, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, The Gambia,  Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Angola and Central Africa Inaugurate 9th Edition of Merck Foundation (www.Merck-Foundation.com) Africa Asia Luminary 2022; African First Ladies marked together the 5th Anniversary of Merck Foundation and 10 year journey of their development programs  by sharing the impact of their partnership programs with Merck Foundation to build healthcare capacity, support girl education and break infertility stigma; More than 10,000 participants including healthcare providers, policymakers, researchers, academia and media representatives from 70 English, French, Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries attended the hybrid Luminary – onsite and online to benefit from scientific and social sessions to address social issues and advance healthcare capacity in 32 critical and underserved medical specialties.

Merck Foundation reported the impact of providing 1470 scholarships to doctors from 50 countries in 32 critical and underserved specialties such as; Oncology, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Preventive, Endocrinology, Fertility, Embryology, Reproductive Care, Respiratory Care, Acute and Intensive Care, Neonatal Care, Pediatric Emergency, Advanced Surgery, Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine, Ophthalmology, Psychiatry, Palliative Care and Pain Management and more; Link to the Facebook live steam of Inaugural Session of Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary & African First Ladies High Level Panel: http://bit.ly/3XE4EWp

Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, conducted their annual conference, the 9th Edition of “Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary” on 15th & 16th November 2022, as a hybrid conference (onsite and online). The conference was inaugurated by Prof. Dr. Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp, Chairman of both of Executive Board of E.Merck KG and Merck Foundation Board of Trustees, and Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation and Chairperson of Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary, along with African First Ladies of 13 Countries;

  • H.E. Mrs. NEO JANE MASISI, The First Lady of the Republic of Botswana
  • H.E. Madam ANGELINE NDAYISHIMIYE, The First Lady of the Republic of Burundi
  • H.E. Madam DENISE NYAKERU TSHISEKEDI, The First Lady of the Democratic Republic of The Congo
  • H.E. Mrs. FATOUMATTA BAH-BARROW, The First Lady of the Republic of The Gambia
  • H.E. Mrs. REBECCA AKUFO-ADDO, The First Lady of the Republic of Ghana
  • H.E. Mrs. CLAR MARIE WEAH, The First Lady of the Republic of Liberia
  • H.E. Mrs. MONICA CHAKWERA, The First Lady of the Republic of Malawi
  • H.E. Mrs. ISAURA FERRÃO NYUSI, The First Lady of the Republic of Mozambique
  • H.E. Mrs. MONICA GEINGOS, The First Lady of the Republic of Namibia
  • H.E. Dr. FATIMA MAADA BIO, The First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone
  • H.E. Mrs. MUTINTA HICHILEMA, The First Lady of the Republic of Zambia
  • H.E. Dr. ANA DIAS LOURENÇO, The First Lady of the Republic of Angola
  • H.E. Madam BRIGITTE TOUADERA, The First Lady of Central Africa

Merck Foundation CEO, Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej emphasized, “I am very proud to welcome my dear sisters, our Guests of Honor and Keynote Speakers, the First Ladies of 13 African Countries, who are also the Ambassadors of Merck Foundation “More Than a Mother”. We are together celebrating the 5th Anniversary of Merck Foundation and 10th Anniversary of our programs since 2012 which aim to build healthcare & media capacity and raise awareness on a wide range of sensitive and critical social and health issues like Supporting Girl Education, Ending Child Marriage, Stopping GBV, Breaking Infertility Stigma, Ending FGM, Women Empowerment, and Diabetes Awareness.

“I am proud that Merck Foundation has provided till today, more than 1470 scholarships to young doctors from 50 countries in 32 critical and underserved specialties. This is a great milestone of transforming patient care landscape and leading Africa to a better, healthier and stronger future. I am happy to hear from my dear sisters their experiences and success stories  in their respective countries, together we will be an important part of Africa’s legacy.” added Senator Kelej.

H.E. Mrs. NEO JANE MASISI, The First Lady of Botswana & Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than A Mother said, ”Our partnership with Merck Foundation started in 2018 and since then, we have achieved very important milestones . Together with Merck Foundation, we launched a Poster Contest on “Stop GBV” initiative to end Gender-Based Violence in Botswana and Merck Foundation provided 20 Sewing Machines to the women groups who suffer GBV across Botswana to be able to generate monthly income. Moreover, more than 31 scholarships were provide for our local Doctors in Botswana in 32 different underserved and critical specialties such as: Diabetes, Endocrinology, Dermatology, Gastroenterology, Oncology, Respiratory Medicines, Acute Medicines and Sexual and Reproductive Medicines”.

H.E. Mrs. ANGELINE NDAYISHIMIYE, The First Lady of Burundi & Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than A Mother stated, “I am very proud of the partnership we have with Merck Foundation. Through our long-term partnership, 47 scholarships have been provided for our local doctors in critical and underserved specialities such as Diabetes, Oncology, Fertility & Embryology, Sexual & Reproductive care, I am very happy to share that we have succeeded to establish the first public IVF center in Burundi and Merck Foundation has provided training for the staff of Fertility Specialists, Embryologists and also technicians, who are the first local experts in my country, we are making history in Burundi.”

H.E. Madam DENISE NYAKERU TSHISEKEDI, The First Lady of Democratic Republic of The Congo & Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than A Mother said, “I would like to greatly acknowledge our valuable partnership with Merck Foundation that we started in 2020, and in a very short time, we have together achieved a lot. I am Proud to share that Merck Foundation have provided 77 scholarships to our doctors in the fields of Oncology, Fertility, Embryology, and Diabetes, which gave us our first Fertility specialists & Embryologists. Together, we also conducted the Online Health Media Training for our journalists to create a culture shift, to break the silence, and be the voice of the voiceless in order to raise awareness on sensitive social and health issues like Infertility Stigma, Supporting Girl Education, Women Empowerment, Ending Child Marriage, Ending FGM and Stopping GBV, Diabetes early detection and prevention”.

H.E. Mrs. FATOUMATTA BAH-BARROW, The First Lady of Republic of The Gambia & Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than A Mother emphasized, “Our partnership journey is going from strength to strength as we have achieved many important and significant milestones since 2017, when I hosted Merck Foundation CEO and together, we launched the programs in my country. Through the partnership with Merck Foundation, 32 scholarships have been provided to young Gambian doctors in medical specialties. And, we are making history by providing training to first specialists in many fields such as Oncology, Respiratory, Fertility, Embryology, Reproductive Care, Diabetes, neonatal care, Endocrinology and more. It is history in the making.”

H.E. Mrs. REBECCA AKUFO-ADDO, The First Lady of Ghana & Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than A Mother emphasized, “I have been working closely with Merck Foundation to empower women in general and infertile women in specific, not only through creating a culture shift but by also making the fertility, sexual and reproductive care available for them and their husbands whenever they need it, nationwide. We have been able to provide more than 110 scholarships of 32 specialty training in the fields of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiology, Endocrinology, Respiratory, Acute Medicine, Sexual and Reproductive medicine, Embryology, Respiratory, Critical care, Psychiatry, General Surgery, Dermatology, Emergency and Resuscitation Medicine, Gastroenterology, Neuroimaging for Research, Pain Management, Rheumatology, and Neonatal Medicine. All these fields are very critical to our country which I consider a great milestone to transform patient care landscape in my country”.

H.E. Mrs. CLAR MARIE WEAH, The First Lady of Liberia & Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than A Mother said, “I am very happy to work closely with Merck Foundation to empower infertile women through access to information, education, health and change of mindset. Merck Foundation also provided Sanitary Napkin Production Machine and raw materials, this will really help our young girls. I truly appreciate our partnership and acknowledge their smart and serious strategy to provide specialty training for our local doctors. Till today, 37 scholarships have been provided to our doctors in many critical and underserved specialties. This is a huge achievement for us, and we are definitely making history in Libera by training the first specialists in many medical fields such as: Infertility, Embryology, Oncology and Diabetes”.

H.E. Mrs. MONICA CHAKWERA, The First Lady of Malawi & Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than A Mother expressed, “I have worked closely with Merck Foundation since 2020 to define the right strategy to build healthcare capacity, empower infertile women, and support girl education in Malawi. With the support of Merck Foundation and their “Empowering Berna” program , 13 women have transformed their lives as they got a chance to establish their own small businesses so that they can be financially independent; and under the ‘Educating Linda’ program, we provided scholarships of 60 Malwian school girls to continue thier education till they graduate. Moreover, 33 scholarships have been provided to young Malawian doctors in 32 critical medical specialties such as Fertility & Embryology, Diabetes, Endocrinology, Oncology, Internal Medicine, Sexual & Reproductive Medicines, Ousmane emergency, respiratory care, acute care and more. My journey with Merck Foundation has definitely been amazing, very impactful and efficient”.

H.E. Mrs. ISAURA FERRÃO NYUSI, The First Lady of Mozambique & Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than A Mother emphasized, “I am very impressed with initiatives of Merck Foundation under the “More Than a Mother” Campaign. We recently conducted our First Online Health Media Training for our journalists to emphasize on the important role that media plays to influence our society to raise awareness on a wide range of social and health issues. The training session benefitted many of our journalists. Together with Merck Foundation, I am fully committed to working closely to introduce more such innovative ideas that engage different sectors to create a culture shift. Moreover, 14 scholarships have been provided to our doctors for the Online Diabetes Master course, a unique course specially developes in Portuguese language so that our local doctors can benefit from it, under Merck Foundation’s  Nationwide Diabetes Blue Points Program”.

H.E. Mrs. MONICA GEINGOS, The First Lady of Namibia & Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than A Mother said “I am glad to have this ongoing long-term beneficial partnership with Merck Foundation. I am particularly excited as Merck More Than a Mother Ambassador, as together we have been doing amazing work in the country to empower women living with infertility through access to information, education, information, change of mindset and economic empowerement. Moreover, 53 scholarships have been provided to young Namibian doctors in the fields of Diabetes, Cardiology, Endocrinology, Respiratory Medicines, Acute Medicines and Sexual and Reproductive Medicines, and many more. For Namibia, 2.4M population, we will soon have more than 18 skilled and trained doctors nationwide  to assist couples living with infertility or need any sexual & reproductive help, this will be a significant contribution towards improving women health in general and reproductive health in specific”.

I am proud that Merck Foundation has provided till today, more than 1470 scholarships to young doctors from 50 countries in 32 critical and underserved specialties

H.E. Dr. FATIMA MAADA BIO, The First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone stated, “Our partnership with Merck Foundation is since 2018 and we highly appreciate their programs. Together, we have provided 46 scholarships to our doctors from different provinces of Sierra Leone in the fields of Oncology, Embryology & Fertility, Sexual and Reproductive Health Medicine, Diabetes, Endocrinology, Orthopaedics, Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, Clinical Psychiatry, Dermatology, Gastroenterology, Internal Medicine, Neonatal Medicine, Paediatric Emergency Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine, Respiratory Medicine and Emergency and Resuscitation Medicine. I can proudly say that along with Merck Foundation we are making history in Sierra Leone by providing training for the First Oncologists in the country with the aim to establish the first skilled cancer care team who will be working in our new hospital, this will improve access to quality and equitable cancer care in the country. This is a huge achievement for us since we did not have any oncologists or fertility specialists and we have in general a very limited number of local specialists in the public sector before starting our partnership with Merck Foundation.”

H.E. Mrs. MUTINTA HICHILEMA, The First Lady of the Republic of Zambia expressed, “I am very proud of our partnership with Merck Foundation. I am very impressed with ‘Educating Linda’ program to support girl education and provide scholarships to girls to complete thier education by providing thier tutiton fees, we have implememted this program in Zambia and provided 22 girls with scholarships to cover thier tuttion fees of nursing schools and health sciences univesities .this scholarship wil continue till they complete thier education successfully. I also very interested in “More Than a Mother” Campaign, this campaign is very critical for my country and Africa, at large. I am fully supporting this initiative as the First Lady of Zambia and as an african woman, it is very close to my heart. Moreover, together with Merck Foundation, we have provided 50 scholarships to our doctors from different provinces across Zambia and we will scale up this program under the leadership of my office”.

During her speech, H.E. Mrs. ANA DIAS LOURENÇO, The First Lady of the Republic of Angola & Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than A Mother stated, “I am looking forward to start the implementation of the ‘Educating Linda’ Program which aims to empower girls through education and end child marriage, this program is very close to my heart as I consider it one of my main objectives as the First Lady of Angola; and as an African woman, I strongly believe that girl Education is one of the most critical areas of women empowerment. Moreover, I am very excited about the 8 important different competitions for our communities which are: Best Media, Song, Film and Fashion awards with the aim to encourage Media, Musicians, Fashion Designers, Filmmakers, students, and new potential talents in these fields to play their important role in sensitizing their communities about many critical social and health issues.”

H.E. Madam BRIGITTE TOUADERA, The First Lady of Central Africa & Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than A Mother emphasized “I greatly value our partnership with Merck Foundation that is since 2015, to support us to advance and build the healthcare capacity in our country by providing scholarships to our local doctors in various medical specialities. Together, we worked on “Empowering Berna” program where we established small businesses for infertile and childless women and trained them to run their businesses so they can have income and become independent and have purpose life. Also, as a part of Merck Foundation’s Education Linda program, we will be providing scholarships to 20 under-privileged schoolgirls from our country to support girl education. Moreover, 5 scholarships have been provided to our doctors by Merck Foundation so far in Oncology and Diabetes”.

The 9th Edition of Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary 2022 was streamed live on the social media handles of Merck Foundation (http://bit.ly/32YFKpv) and Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej(http://bit.ly/3ATPaEd).

Link to the Facebook live steam of Inaugural Session of Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary & African First Ladies High Level Panel: (https://bit.ly/3XE4EWp)

Merck Foundation is transforming the Patient care landscape and making history together with its partners in Africa, Asia, and beyond, through:

• 1470 + Scholarships provided by Merck Foundation for doctors from 50 Countries in 32 critical and underserved medical specialties.  

Merck Foundation is also creating a culture shift and breaking the silence about a wide range of social and health issues in Africa and underserved communities through:

• 2200 + Media Persons from more than 50 countries trained to better raise Awareness about different social and health issues

• 8 Different Awards Launched annually for best media coverage, fashion designers, films, and songs

• Around 30 songs to address health and social issues by local singers across Africa

• 8 Children’s Storybooks in three languages – English, French, and Portuguese

• Pan African TV Program “Our Africa by Merck Foundation” TV Program addressing Social and Health Issues in Africa through “Fashion and ART with Purpose” Community

• 1000+ Girls from 15 African countries supported through scholarships or school items, annually.

• 9 Social Media Channels with more than 5 Million Followers

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Merck Foundation.

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Emirates and the Kenya Tourism Board sign partnership agreement to drive inbound tourism

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1 day ago

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September 18, 2026

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Emirates

Reinforcing the airline’s longstanding commitment in market, the partnership agreement supports Kenya’s ambition to be the most visited tourism destination in Africa by promoting the destination in key regions on the airline’s vast global network

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, September 18, 2026/APO Group/ –Emirates (www.Emirates.com) and the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) have signed a partnership agreement at the 2026 Arabian Travel Market, to strengthen collaboration and support the growth of inbound tourism to Kenya. Already one of the most consistently in-demand destinations on the airline’s Africa network, the partnership will build on this strong demand and help unlock new opportunities for Kenya to attract visitors from emerging and established markets around the world.
 




 
 

The partnership agreement was signed by Adil Al Ghaith, Emirates’ Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations, Centre, and June Chepkemei, Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Tourism Board, in the presence of Ambassador. (Professor.) Julius K. Bitok, CBS. Principal Secretary, State Department for Tourism, and Adnan Kazim, Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer, Rashid Alardha, Vice President of Commercial Operations for Sub-Saharan Africa, Emirates and Christophe Leloup, Emirates’ Country Manager in Kenya, along with other senior officials.

 

Adil Al Ghaith said, “Kenya has been an important market for Emirates for over three decades, and our commitment goes much deeper than operations and connections. We’ve consistently invested in our presence in the market, working closely with travel trade partners and tourism stakeholders to stimulate inbound travel, and contribute positively to the global perception of Kenya. Nairobi remains one of the top 5 busiest gateways for Emirates in Africa, with significant traffic coming from UK and Europe, as well as the US. This partnership solidifies that longstanding commitment, enhancing our collaboration with the Kenya Tourism Board and the full, thriving tourism ecosystem across Nairobi and Kenya.”

 

We are delighted to partner with Emirates to strengthen Kenya’s global tourism profile and showcase the remarkable experiences our destination offers to travellers around the world

June Chepkemei said, “We are delighted to partner with Emirates to strengthen Kenya’s global tourism profile and showcase the remarkable experiences our destination offers to travellers around the world. Emirates’ extensive international network and strong reach in both established and emerging markets will help us build on the growing demand for Kenya and unlock new opportunities to attract more visitors. This collaboration reflects our shared commitment to promoting Kenya as a leading, diverse and unforgettable destination, while supporting the continued growth of inbound tourism and the many communities that benefit from it.”

 

Tourism is a key pillar in Kenya’s economy, creating thousands of employment opportunities and serving millions of tourists who visit the country each year. The Kenya Tourism Board has bold plans to establish Kenya as the most visited tourism destination in Africa, with a year-round calendar of diverse, sustainable and authentic experiences that appeal to a swathe of international visitors.

 

Under the framework of the partnership agreement, Emirates and KTB will explore joint initiatives to promote Kenya in key markets on the airline’s global network, showcasing the breadth of Kenya’s year-round tourism offering, and encourage more travellers to visit. The partners will also closely collaborate to develop programmes for trade partners and tour operators that educate and excite the industry, such as incentives, familiarisation trips and other marketing initiatives.

 

Last year, Emirates marked 30 years of operations to Nairobi and, during that tenure, has established deep-rooted ties with local communities and the travel trade ecosystem. Earlier this month, the airline’s tour operating arm, Emirates Holidays, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kenya Association of Travel Agents to stimulate outbound travel by equipping over 300 travel agencies with enhanced product and network insight and competitive promotional opportunities.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Emirates Group.

 




 

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Afreximbank and Development Bank of Southern Africa establish a Joint Project Preparation Facility to advance bankable projects in Southern Africa

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1 day ago

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September 18, 2026

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Afreximbank

Through the JPPF, the institutions will jointly originate, screen and prioritise projects and support the technical, financial and legal work required to address bankability constraints

CAIRO, Egypt, September 18, 2026/APO Group/ –African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) have signed a Joint Project Preparation Facility (JPPF) Framework Agreement. Under the agreement, each institution will be able to contribute up to US$10 million to prepare high-impact, trade-enabling infrastructure and industrial projects in South Africa and the wider region.

 




 
 

The agreement is one of the first operational instruments to follow South Africa’s accession to the Afreximbank Establishment Agreement in February 2026. South Africa became Afreximbank’s 54th member state in February 2026, when the Bank also announced a US$ 8 billion Country Programme for the country. The agreement complements the Master Risk Participation Agreement signed by Afreximbank and DBSA in February 2026, extending the partnership upstream into project preparation. It also supports the objectives of South Africa’s National Development Plan 2030, SADC integration and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Mrs Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade and Export Development, signed on behalf of Afreximbank, while Mr. Greg Fyfe, Chief Investment Officer, DBSA, signed on behalf of his institution.

Through the JPPF, the institutions will jointly originate, screen and prioritise projects and support the technical, financial and legal work required to address bankability constraints. Priority sectors include power and energy, with particular attention to energy transition; transport and logistics; information and communication technology; strategic minerals beneficiation; and other mutually agreed sectors aligned with national, regional and continental development priorities. The framework will focus initially on South Africa and the wider Southern African region, with scope to consider other African jurisdictions of mutual interest.

Through this partnership with Afreximbank, we are leveraging our complementary strengths to improve project preparation

Through the JPPF, Afreximbank and DBSA will collaborate to advance high-impact projects from concept stage to bankability. The focus will be on trade-enabling infrastructure, industrial development, and export-oriented initiatives across South Africa and the Southern African region, with potential extension to other African jurisdictions of mutual strategic interest.

Commenting on the agreement, Mrs. Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade and Export Development at Afreximbank said:

“Africa’s infrastructure challenge is not only about shortage of capital; it is also about shortage of projects prepared to the standard required by investors and lenders. This JPPF addresses this critical constraint. By combining Afreximbank’s trade and industrialisation mandate with DBSA’s infrastructure-development expertise, we will help move priority projects from concept to investment readiness and mobilise the larger pools of public, private and blended finance required for implementation. For South Africa and the wider Southern Africa region, this is how project preparation becomes a practical instrument for industrialisation, export growth and regional integration under the AfCFTA.”

Gregory Fyfe, Chief Investment Officer at DBSA, said:

“The Joint Project Preparation Facility represents a significant step towards strengthening the pipeline of bankable infrastructure and industrial projects across South Africa and the Southern African region. Through this partnership with Afreximbank, we are leveraging our complementary strengths to improve project preparation. This will unlock investment opportunities and accelerate the delivery of infrastructure that supports economic growth, industrialisation and regional integration. This initiative reflects DBSA’s commitment to infrastructure-led development and to enabling sustainable, long-term impact through well-prepared projects that attract both public and private sector investment.”

Projects developed through the JPPF may seek downstream funding from Afreximbank, DBSA. They may also be presented to private investors, development finance institutions and commercial lenders, subject in every case to separate appraisal and approval. Both institutions will actively collaborate on origination, preparation, knowledge-sharing, and portfolio monitoring to accelerate project bankability and execution.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Afreximbank.

 

 




 

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Advancing the Agentic World, Building a Solid Silicon Foundation

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2 days ago

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September 18, 2026

By

HUAWEI

Key takeaways:

  • Strategic focus: The rapid approach of an intelligent world is driving up demand for computing power. Huawei is focused on developing AI infrastructure, and is actively driving innovation in systems and architecture centered around SuperPoDs and SuperClusters. These efforts are aimed at building a solid silicon foundation for the intelligent world.
  • Technological breakthroughs: Huawei unveiled the Atlas 960E SuperPoD, the first in the industry to use NPO. The company also launched an upgraded TaiShan 950 SuperPoD, as well as the OceanStor M900 (a memory context storage system). Interconnected with UnifiedBus, Huawei’s agentic SuperCluster can scale up to one million NPUs.
  • Open ecosystems: Huawei is actively building out open computing ecosystems. To date, the Kunpeng ecosystem has attracted 4.16 million developers from around the world. CANN has moved to sustained, community-driven open-source development. Ascend now spans over 90 leading third-party open-source projects and is officially supported as a PyTorch accelerator backend.

SHANGHAI, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 17 September 2026 – HUAWEI CONNECT 2026 kicked off today in Shanghai. The first keynote of the date was by David Wang, the Deputy Chairman of the Board and Rotating Chairman at Huawei. In his speech (Advancing the Agentic World, Building a Solid Silicon Foundation), Wang highlighted the work the company is doing alongside industry stakeholders to build powerful AI infrastructure, lay a solid computing foundation, and address the challenges and opportunities in the intelligent world to come.

 




 
 

AI is sweeping the world faster than any previous technological revolution. Today, foundation model parameters are rapidly approaching 10 trillion, and are projected to exceed 100 trillion by 2030. AI agents can now work on the same task continuously, for hours on end. By 2030, they will be able to handle tasks that span months.

In China alone, the average number of inference tokens consumed every day has surged to around 500 trillion, and is expected to reach quintillions (1018) by 2030.

On-device AI is also advancing rapidly. On-device models for smartphones have expanded from three billion parameters in 2024 to 30 billion today, and will push toward hundreds of billions in the near future.

These trends will set a much higher bar for the scale, performance, and reliability of underlying technical systems. Only by building powerful AI infrastructure can the industry lay a solid foundation for the future intelligent world.

An intelligent world is approaching – and faster than ever. To lead the charge into this new world, Huawei is laser-focused on building out AI infrastructure – the silicon foundation for the future to come.

In particular, Huawei’s AI strategy is centered on computing power, with a focus on monetizing hardware. The company is also sharpening its competitive edge through systems and architectural innovation. Centering these efforts on SuperPoDs and SuperClusters, the company aims to build a solid computing foundation and offer a new option for the world.

Huawei is a major contributor to open computing ecosystems, and will continue to support native training for mainstream foundation models on its systems, as well as supporting a vast range of models and applications.

For customers, Huawei provides flexible on-premises and cloud compute solutions for its customers to accelerate intelligent transformation across industries.

With diverse forms of compute, including solutions for micro-, low-tier, mid-range, and massive computing power – Huawei is driving the expansion of on-device and in-vehicle AI, making intelligence truly ubiquitous.

Additionally, Huawei is dedicated to building next-generation communications networks to bring readily available compute and intelligence to every person, home, and organization.

SuperPoDs gain broad consensus, with adoption growing in industries, academia, and research institutes

To date, over 1,000 Atlas 900 A3 SuperPoDs have been deployed, and Atlas 950 SuperPoD is seeing large-scale commercial use. While adoption continues to grow, SuperPoDs have gained broad acceptance across industry, academia, and research institutions as a key direction for AI infrastructure. Currently, a SuperPoD is explicitly defined as a computing system in which multiple computing nodes are tightly coupled through high-speed interconnect protocols, featuring unified memory addressing across physical nodes — functioning like a single logical computer.

SuperPoDs are the go-to choice for AI infrastructure buildout. Right now, 100k-NPU computing clusters have become the baseline for training SOTA models. However, traditional server architectures result in intra-cluster communications that account for over 40% of total training time, severely constraining Model FLOPs Utilization (MFU). Simulation results from Huawei’s Markov Lab show that a 100k-NPU cluster built with 4k-NPU SuperPoDs can deliver a 2.75x increase in MFU compared to a 100k-NPU cluster composed of 8-NPU servers.

11-chip UnifiedBus-powered portfolio for SuperPoDs and SuperClusters; the Atlas 960E SuperPoD –the industry’s first to use NPO

The Ascend series of chips is the most critical component in Huawei’s 11-chip UnifiedBus-powered portfolio for SuperPoDs and SuperClusters. Development on Ascend 960 has exceeded the company’s expectations, with performance doubling as planned. Ascend 960DT will be available in Q1 2027, three quarters ahead of the company’s original roadmap. And the Ascend 960PR will be ready in Q3 2027, one quarter ahead of schedule.

“We’re evolving our Ascend chip series on a one-generation-a-year cycle,” said Wang in his keynote. “In 2028 and 2029, we will roll out the Ascend 970 and 980 chips, respectively. Thanks to the Tau (τ) Scaling Law, not only will their compute specifications continue to double, but you can also expect to see huge improvements across the board in terms of memory bandwidth, memory capacity, interconnect bandwidth, and more.”

In addition to Ascend chips, Huawei has also developed a complete portfolio of chips for AI infrastructure, based on UnifiedBus, delivering key capabilities that cover computing, interconnect, storage, and management.

“SuperPoDs are designed to coordinate multiple NPUs through interconnect,” continued Wang. “We have developed a next-generation optical interconnect product based on near-packaged optics (NPO): the High-density Optical-interconnect-Node Engine (Hi-ONE).” Built on Huawei’s proprietary technologies, Hi-ONE has a multi-physics design for balancing optical, mechanical, electrical, electromagnetic, and thermal performance, realizing a transmission capacity of 7.2 Tbit/s per single engine.

“This is the industry’s first NPO product ready for mass production, delivering the largest transmission capacity. It is also the industry’s first NPO product with a built-in light source.”

This product combines high bandwidth and high reliability with low latency and low power consumption. This, coupled with UnifiedBus, will make it far easier to scale up SuperPoD interconnect systems.

Recently, Huawei submitted an implementation agreement (IA) on NPO to the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), a standards organization. The response from numerous industry partners has been widely positive. Huawei will continue its efforts to further refine the NPO industry ecosystem.

Using Ascend 960 chips and Hi-ONE, Huawei has developed the industry’s first NPO-based SuperPoDs: the Atlas 960E SuperPoDs. A single Atlas 960E SuperPoD can scale up to 4,096 NPUs, delivering 8 EFLOPS of FP8 compute performance, with up to 1 petabyte of HBM capacity. With 5,500 Hi-ONE units, this SuperPoD doesn’t need the 48,000 800G optical modules that would traditionally be required to connect all the NPUs. This cuts power consumption by over 550 kilowatts, while doubling the system’s fault-free operating time, achieving 99.8% system availability.

Combining the upgraded TaiShan 950 SuperPoD and context memory storage to power an ultrascale cluster with 1 million NPUs

As SOTA models scale to 10 trillion parameters, training and inference can no longer rely on a single AI server or AI SuperPoD – they require a more complex computing system. This system includes AI SuperPoDs, general-purpose SuperPoDs, and an interconnect system that features peer-to-peer interconnect and zero protocol conversion. For inference, including a petabyte-scale KV cache cluster is also a must.

To meet these demands, Huawei has fully upgraded its TaiShan 950 SuperPoD. Powered by UnifiedBus all-optical networking, this new SuperPoD supports up to 4,096 nodes with a unified memory pool of up to 256 TB. This setup significantly improves agent performance. For sandbox-intensive workloads, startup speeds for 100,000 sandboxes are 30 times faster than traditional servers, and sandbox density can be improved by an additional 25%. For vector search across 10 billion x 1,000-dimensional vectors, this SuperPoD delivers twice the search efficiency of traditional servers.

Huawei has also launched OceanStor M900 – a UnifiedBus-powered context memory storage cluster that delivers multi-tier KV caching for agent-heavy and longer-context workloads. Designed for agentic inference, this cluster supports one-hop direct access and provides a petabyte-scale KV cache for the L3.5 layer. OceanStor M900 also uses hybrid media and an optimized retention algorithm, extending SSD read/write lifespan by 16-fold. This ensures a higher KV cache hit rate alongside long-term stability and reliability from the ground up.

Combining its strengths in computing and communications, Huawei has built a brand-new agentic SuperCluster to accelerate training and inference for 10-trillion-parameter models. This SuperCluster uses UnifiedBus to consolidate multiple interconnect protocols into a single unified protocol, significantly reducing protocol conversion overhead. This delivers peer-to-peer interconnect between subsystems like Ascend SuperPoDs, Kunpeng SuperPoDs, and KV cache clusters. The SuperCluster also comes with a multi-tier, high-bandwidth, and large-capacity storage system that enables direct single-hop access for all KV cache tiers.

With a two-tier, four-plane Clos architecture, the SuperCluster can interconnect up to 512,000 NPUs. When combined with a multi-rail topology, this cluster can support up to one million NPUs.

One of Huawei’s core strategies: Going open source and open system to build out computing ecosystems

The Kunpeng ecosystem is driving digital and intelligent innovation across a wide range of industries. To date, the Kunpeng ecosystem has attracted over 4.16 million developers and more than 7,200 ecosystem partners from around the globe. The community currently supports over 560 open-source projects worldwide. openEuler has seen more than 20 million installations, securing the largest share in China’s server OS market.

The Ascend ecosystem has reached a new inflection point. The Compute Architecture for Neural Networks (CANN) is the foundation of the Ascend ecosystem. Today, CANN has moved to sustained, community-driven open-source development, which has brought the platform from usable to user-friendly.

External CANN developers now comprise 61% of all CANN developers, outnumbering internal developers for the first time. With over 5,200 monthly active developers, the CANN community has become the most vibrant open-source community in China. What’s more, over 40 models have been natively pre-trained on Ascend and CANN, making it the only proven domestic stack capable of model pre-training.

Ascend now supports over 90 leading third-party open-source projects, including PyTorch, Triton, vLLM, and veRL. With strong support from the Linux Foundation, Ascend is the first official Chinese compute platform on PyTorch’s website. This gives developers around the world ready access to new innovations in the Ascend ecosystem.

Diverse forms of compute for ubiquitous on-device and in-vehicle AI

AI is expanding faster into all kinds of devices. To deliver an unparalleled AI experience across all scenarios, Huawei will continue to strengthen capabilities in four key areas:

First, Huawei will combine Kirin and Ascend chips to drive self-reliance and autonomy in on-device compute.

Second, Huawei will bring together Pangu models and third-party models to make on-device intelligence better and easier to use.

Third, HarmonyOS, as an Agent OS for ubiquitous intelligence, will be completely redefined from the ground up – spanning system architecture, how it operates, and interaction logic – to enable human-agent collaboration.

Fourth, Huawei will keep cultivating a diverse AI ecosystem, which is the foundation for its system agent Celia to thrive.

Huawei plans to build four on-device computing platforms: for AI phones, AI PCs, vehicles, and homes. Through cross-device and device-cloud compute synergy, Huawei will be able to provide distributed swarm intelligence, delivering integrated and continuous intelligent services across personal mobile, office, vehicle, and home spaces, ultimately bringing intelligence to every person and every space.

Building next-generation communications that prioritize readily available compute, because without networks, all compute is siloed

Next-generation communications networks are crucial for fully unleashing the value of AI compute. We are driving the upgrade to networks that, in addition to connecting people, will prioritize delivering readily available compute. These networks will be underpinned by 5G-A/6G, 10-gigabit optical networks, and multi-tier, low-latency bearer networks, delivering intelligent connectivity across data centers, the edge, and devices.

Concluding his keynote, Wang expressed that AI “may well be the final technological revolution in human history,” noting that its impact is deeper and broader, and coming faster than anyone could have ever imagined. “No single company,” he said, “can build an intelligent world alone.”

He stressed Huawei’s ongoing commitments moving forward:
Huawei will remain committed to building a solid silicon foundation to make computing power readily accessible to all.
The company will continue to open source its software, helping developers unleash their full potential.
It will continue to embrace a wide range of models and applications, unlocking value in every form.

“And we will continue to work together to drive shared success, growing together with our customers and partners around the world,” Wang concluded. “Let’s work together to build a fully connected, intelligent world.”

Themed Advancing the Agentic World, HUAWEI CONNECT 2026 will delve into AI across three dimensions: strategy, technology, and ecosystems. You can expect an in-depth look at our latest strategic initiatives, and we’ll also be unveiling our all-new digital and intelligent infrastructure products, scenario-specific solutions for industries, and development tools. The event will run from September 17 to 19 at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center and Shanghai Expo Center. For more information, please visit HUAWEI CONNECT 2026 online at www.huawei.com/en/events/huaweiconnect

FAQs:

Q1: What is a SuperPoD, and why is it becoming increasingly important?

A SuperPoD is a computing system in which multiple computing nodes are tightly coupled through high-speed interconnect, enabling them to share unified memory and function like a single computer. As foundation model training and inference continue to scale up, SuperPoDs can reduce communications overhead in large-scale clusters and improve Model FLOPs Utilization (MFU). They have gained broad consensus across industry, academia, and research institutes in AI infrastructure, and are the go-to choice for AI infrastructure buildout.

Q2: What makes the Atlas 960E SuperPoDs special?

The Atlas 960E SuperPoD is the industry’s first NPO-based SuperPoD. A single Atlas 960E SuperPoD can scale up to 4,096 NPUs, delivering 8 EFLOPS of FP8 compute performance, with up to 1 petabyte of HBM capacity. With 5,500 Hi-ONE units, this SuperPoD doesn’t need the 48,000 800G optical modules that would traditionally be required to connect all the NPUs. This cuts power consumption by over 550 kilowatts, while doubling the system’s fault-free operating time, achieving 99.8% system availability. Atlas 960E SuperPoDs can provide efficient and reliable computing power for large-scale AI training and inference.

Q3: What is NPO, and what role does Hi-ONE play in a SuperPoD?

NPO stands for Near-Packaged Optics, an optical interconnect technology designed for high-speed connectivity. Hi-ONE, developed by Huawei, is the industry’s first NPO product ready for mass production. It delivers the largest transmission capacity at 7.2 Tbit/s and is currently the industry’s only NPO product with a built-in light source. Hi-ONE, coupled with UnifiedBus, will make it far easier to scale up SuperPoD interconnect systems.
 




 

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