Strategic Vision & Purpose
PhotonAI is building Africa's first sovereign, renewable-powered AI infrastructure platform — developed and operated on African soil. PhotonAI-DC-1 at Bikita is the foundational campus: rather than a standalone data centre, it is conceived as a regional AI utility, delivering AI compute, inference, cloud GPU capacity, and managed AI platforms to governments, enterprises, universities, and research institutions across Africa.
This RFP seeks strategic partners for the design, costing, and construction of the data centre and its enabling infrastructure — a facility engineered from day one for modular, phased scale-up. By controlling the full stack, from on-site solar generation through to liquid-cooled AI inference, PhotonAI reduces dependence on overseas compute and positions Zimbabwe as a regional hub for AI infrastructure and innovation.
Every large-scale AI system Africa's population uses today is foreign-built, foreign-hosted, and foreign-priced. PhotonAI-DC-1 changes this — pairing one of the region's strongest solar resources (2,210 kWh/m² GHI) and a river-fed liquid-cooling advantage with sovereign, in-country AI compute. Partners who help build this facility participate in one of the most consequential infrastructure programmes on the continent.
Scope of Proposals
PhotonAI is soliciting proposals across the full AI-campus infrastructure stack for PhotonAI-DC-1. Partners may bid on one or more categories. A "Project" may consist of any combination of site enabling works, power infrastructure, shell and data-hall construction, mechanical and electrical fit-out, liquid-cooling systems, compute hardware, and software. Every proposal must be modular and scalable: designs must support incremental build-out from a Phase 1 block toward the full 500 MW licensed envelope without stranding earlier investment.
Site & Civil Infrastructure
Liquid Cooling & Mechanical
Power, Renewables & Storage
Compute, Network & Software
Component Categories — Detail
Design-build or EPC construction of a purpose-built, scalable data centre achieving Tier III equivalent uptime, with an optional Tier IV core. Proposals must address the site's high-clay soils and localised rock (geotechnical works), and provide modular / containerised designs that enable rapid scale-up from a Phase 1 block (≈5 MW IT energisation) to ≈20 MW design capacity and beyond, reusing existing on-site buildings (main office, 16 cottages, workshop) where practical. Demonstrated African or emerging-market construction experience preferred.
Direct liquid-to-chip cooling is the primary architecture for PhotonAI-DC-1, exploiting the site's exceptional water access — three adjacent rivers (the Devure river bounds the site to the east and north). Proposals must cover river abstraction under the granted Water Use Licence, treatment, closed-loop recirculation and discharge, CDUs, RDHX and GPU cold plates, targeting a design PUE ≤ 1.25 and rack densities of 30–120 kW. Include hybrid air (CRAC/CRAH) and dry/adiabatic rejection for hot, dry-season ambient conditions, plus a water-use-effectiveness (WUE) strategy.
Full power infrastructure: HV/MV transformers, ATS/STS, 2N UPS, smart PDUs, busway, and N+1 backup generation, integrated with the campus 50 MW solar plant and a battery energy storage system (10 MW / 40 MWh Phase 1, scalable). Proposals should present a microgrid-capable architecture that firms intermittent solar and supports the ≥60% renewable target by 2030. Specify interconnection works from the existing on-site 33 kV corridor to the 132 kV Middle Sabi substation (≈38 km).
High-density AI compute for inference, model serving and fine-tuning — the primary Phase 1 workload. PhotonAI is evaluating NVIDIA H100/H200/B200, AMD Instinct MI300X, and equivalents. Proposals must include per-unit and volume pricing, delivery timelines to Zimbabwe via the Beira Corridor (Mozambique) or regional ports, warranty/RMA terms, and firm availability commitments. Multi-year supply agreements aligned to the phased build are preferred.
Integration of the campus 50 MWac (54.8 MWp DC) single-axis-tracking solar plant — 1,440 trackers across 20 PV blocks feeding a 33 kV export corridor — with the data centre load and BESS. Proposals should address ZETDC interconnection, the point-of-connection study (critical-path item), PPA/wheeling structures, and options to scale generation toward the 500 MW licensed envelope. Bankable PVsyst performance is established: 123.9 GWh/year, 29.7% capacity factor, 81.73% performance ratio.
High-speed intra-DC fabric (InfiniBand NDR or 400GbE spine-leaf) for AI clusters, plus resilient long-haul connectivity. Proposals should specify at least two diverse fibre paths to national and regional backbones and integration with undersea cable landing stations via the Beira and Maputo corridors. Address latency to key African demand centres and inter-site expansion for future PhotonAI nodes.
Platforms for infrastructure management (DCIM — power, cooling, capacity), AI workload orchestration (Kubernetes-native GPU scheduling, Slurm), and MLOps (pipeline management, model registry, inference deployment) for a secure multi-tenant sovereign environment. Open-source and commercial proposals are both evaluated; SaaS, on-premises and hybrid options appropriate to a data-sovereign context are required, with metered multi-tenant billing.
Project Description Requirements
Proposals must provide a detailed description of the PhotonAI-DC-1 project — design, scale, and technological capability — engineered as a modular platform. The following minimum technical specifications apply:
Proposals must specify the projected power and IT-load ramp: initial energisation, Phase 1 design capacity (≈20 MW), and the modular pathway toward the 500 MW licensed envelope, with clear decoupling of civil, power, cooling and compute scale-up so that each block is independently financeable and commissionable.
Site & Location — Bikita, Zimbabwe
PhotonAI-DC-1 is anchored on a secured landholding at Devuli Ranch, Bikita District, Masvingo Province — a former diamond-mining estate now dedicated to renewable energy and AI infrastructure. The total available area is 1,658 ha (25-year lease with option to purchase; no resettlement required), of which the campus master plan draws on ≈500 ha for solar, storage, data centre and support. The following site intelligence is drawn from the project's topographic and site survey reports (WorldView-2 50 cm imagery, terrestrial GPS, 2 m contour DTM).
Location Factors
Access & logistics. The site is entered directly off the A9. Two primary routes serve it: the A4 from Harare via Chivhu (≈404 km) and the A3 via Rusape and Mutare (≈409 km). Regional deep-water port access is via the Beira Corridor (Mozambique) through the Mutare–Machipanda gateway. The site retains usable internal roads, a main office building, 16 employee cottages, a workshop and container offices from prior operations — reusable for construction mobilisation.
Power infrastructure. An active 33 kV line already crosses the site (formerly serving mining via a 750 kVA step-down transformer). As the campus exceeds the capacity of that line, the nearest suitable connection at 132 kV is the Middle Sabi substation, ≈38 km on a straight line — a route respondents should assess for the export corridor.
Water. Three rivers are within reach of the site, with the Devure river bounding it to the east and north; a Water Use Licence is approved, enabling river-adjacent abstraction for construction, operations and liquid-to-chip cooling.
Ground conditions. Soils are predominantly high-clay with localised rock on the southern margin and near the river; a full geotechnical investigation is scheduled and respondents should price foundation solutions accordingly.
Community & environment. 27 families (former mine employees) live on the estate and welcome the project; the Environmental Impact Assessment is completed and certified. Vegetation is low-density scrub with no significant shading objects.
Site-Specific Considerations
Power & Energy
PhotonAI views energy sovereignty as inseparable from AI sovereignty. PhotonAI-DC-1 is powered by a co-located 50 MWac (54.8 MWp DC) single-axis-tracking solar plant with battery storage, grid-interconnected for continuous, firmed operation and licensed to scale to 500 MW. Bankable Year-1 PVsyst performance is established and summarised below; proposals must integrate the data centre load, BESS and grid interconnection into a coherent microgrid.
Capacity Roadmap
The 500 MW licence anchors a modular generation and compute roadmap. Proposals should present power delivery that scales in step with data-hall build-out, keeping each phase independently financeable.
2028
Energy Composition & Effluent
Articulate projected tariff structure and power composition, including renewable percentage at Phase 1 activation (2028) and at 5-year maturity (2030, ≥60% target). Address carbon (Scope 1 and 2), heat rejection strategy, water abstraction, treatment and recirculation, and electronic-waste management. Grid interconnection (ZETDC) and the point-of-connection study are critical-path items to be addressed explicitly.
Reliability Requirements
Provide a Tier I–IV rating and a full reliability description for the scalable design. Address the following in detail:
Ownership & Operational Model
Clearly outline the proposed ownership structure and operational model for each element. PhotonAI is open to multiple commercial structures — EPC, design-build, build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT), joint venture, and operate-and-maintain — and will evaluate each on its strategic and financial merits.
Ownership Structure
State whether you propose to build and transfer, build and operate, or co-invest. Address alignment with the project SPV and the phased financing model, including how ownership of solar generation, BESS, shell, M&E, cooling and compute may be structured independently to support modular capital raises.
Operational Model
Describe O&M scope, staffing (with local employment and skills transfer), spares strategy for a remote location, remote monitoring, and handover milestones per phase. Reuse of existing on-site buildings for operations and staff accommodation should be considered.
Risk Mitigation
Regulatory & Permitting
The project benefits from an advanced permitting position: the Environmental Impact Assessment is completed and certified, a Water Use Licence is approved, a generation licence is granted, and land is secured under a 25-year lease with option to purchase (no resettlement required). Proposals should outline any remaining approvals for the data centre and interconnection, and demonstrate experience with Zimbabwean regulatory bodies (ZERA, EMA, ZETDC).
Grid & Interconnection
Grid integration is the principal critical-path item: the ZETDC grid impact study and point-of-connection allocation to the 132 kV Middle Sabi substation (≈38 km) must be completed. Address interconnection timelines, wheeling/PPA structures, and contingency should grid enablement lag data-hall readiness (e.g. solar + BESS islanding).
Site, Ground & Water Risk
Address high-clay soils and localised rock through an early geotechnical programme; provide foundation options and price contingency. For cooling, address dry-season river flows, abstraction limits under the Water Licence, and closed-loop recirculation to minimise consumption.
Supply Chain, Currency & Geopolitical
Outline de-risking for long-lead items (GPUs, transformers, UPS, CDUs) and import logistics via the Beira Corridor. Address currency and repatriation (USD-denominated tariffs, offshore collection where structured), import-duty strategy, and local sourcing. Africa-first supply-chain strategies and existing in-country relationships will be viewed favourably.
Commercial Model
Proposals must include information and benchmarks enabling PhotonAI to model Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for PhotonAI-DC-1 over a 10-year programme, phased against the modular build. Financial projections should be in USD. For context, the co-located 50 MW solar plant carries a reference CapEx of ≈USD 43.5M and a total funding requirement (incl. contingency) of ≈USD 67.5M at a 30/70 equity–debt split; the data centre CapEx/OpEx is the subject of this RFP.
CapEx Estimates
OpEx Estimates (Annual)
Financial Incentives
Identify applicable Zimbabwean incentives — investment-zone benefits, duty exemptions on renewable and IT equipment, and any special economic or national-project status — and strategies to maximise them. Proposals demonstrating active engagement with the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency and relevant ministries will be prioritised.
Innovation
PhotonAI expects its infrastructure partners to be technologically ambitious. Proposals should identify innovations — in design, construction, operations, or sustainability — that distinguish this response from industry norms and exploit the site's unique advantages.
Of particular interest: river-fed direct liquid-to-chip cooling optimised for a hot, dry climate and low PUE; automation in the construction process itself (not just the product); AI-driven facility management and predictive maintenance; modular / containerised data-hall designs for rapid, financeable scale-up; an agrivoltaic and energy–water–food nexus on the wider 1,658 ha estate (livestock, irrigation, solar-powered boreholes); and community-benefit features such as youth training in solar O&M and electrical skills.
Articulate how your technology roadmap aligns with PhotonAI's 10-year vision — next-generation GPUs, liquid-cooling evolution, and the scaling of Bikita from a Phase 1 block toward a 500 MW continental-scale AI utility.
Evaluation Criteria
Initial proposals will be evaluated on the following weighted criteria. Shortlisted partners per category will be invited to submit full detailed proposals and site presentations. PhotonAI evaluates on an ongoing basis.
PhotonAI reserves the right to negotiate with multiple partners per category and is not obligated to accept the highest-scoring proposal. PhotonAI may decline all proposals in any category without reason. Participation does not limit PhotonAI's ability to pursue similar projects based on independently developed or publicly available information.
Timeline & Process
PhotonAI will evaluate proposals on an ongoing basis. Proposals received before the key dates below will receive priority consideration.
Submission Requirements
Initial proposals must be 25 pages maximum, submitted as a single PDF. Supporting appendices (datasheets, financials, references) may be included as a separate ZIP archive. Proposals may cover one or more categories; a separate response document per category is preferred.
Required Sections (Initial Proposal)
Executive Summary (1 page max). Categories covered; scope covered at PhotonAI-DC-1; maximum IT load capacity; power available by Phase 1 activation; comparable previous projects.
Company Overview. Corporate background, ownership, annual revenue, years in operation, Africa presence, and track record of comparable projects in emerging markets.
Technical Proposal. Detailed response to Sections 03–07, including datasheets, architecture diagrams, cooling schematics, and performance benchmarks — emphasising modular scalability.
Project Deployment Plan. Timeline addressing Sections 04–06: permitting support, geotechnical, civil, structural, equipment delivery (Beira corridor), M&E and cooling commissioning, IT provisioning, and data-hall handover per phase.
Ownership & Operational Model. Response to Section 08.
Commercial Model. CapEx and OpEx benchmarks per Section 10; ownership structure; incentives identified.
Risk Mitigation. Risk register per Section 09 (regulatory, grid, ground/water, supply chain, currency) with mitigation pathways.
Innovation & Sustainability. Response to Section 11.
Financial Stability. Audited accounts (most recent 2 years) or equivalent evidence of capacity to fulfil the contract.
Submission Instructions
Submit all proposals electronically to rfp@photonai.ai with the subject line:
RFP-2026-002 · PhotonAI-DC-1 · [Category A–G] · [Company Name]
Maximum submission: 25 pages (PDF) + appendix ZIP (50 MB max). Proposals submitted after 17:00 CAT on 28 September 2026 will not be considered. To register interest and receive the confidential technical data room, email rfp@photonai.ai with subject REGISTER: RFP-2026-002 before 4 August 2026.
All costs incurred in preparing a response are the responsibility of the submitting firm. This RFP does not constitute a commitment by PhotonAI to enter any contract. PhotonAI will take every effort to protect the confidentiality of all proposals received.
Contact
All enquiries must be submitted in writing to the relevant contact below. Verbal enquiries will not be accepted, and attempts to contact PhotonAI personnel outside the formal RFP process may result in disqualification.
We look forward to receiving your proposals and to partnering on the anchor facility of Africa's sovereign AI infrastructure.
The PhotonAI Infrastructure Team
21 July 2026