Tech giants spent trillions securing AI capabilities in 2025. (Graphic by Nicola Mawson)
Artificial intelligence (AI) was a key driver of global deals in 2025, with Time Magazine naming “The Architects of AI” as its person of the year. Meanwhile, South Africa saw two stock exchange listings.
Bain & Company says “technology mergers and acquisitions, powered by AI-related deals, was in the vanguard of the year’s surge in merger activity,” putting total deal value at $4.8 trillion as of yesterday – the second highest on record.
Globally, companies raced to secure AI assets through M&A. Top deals this year set new records, beating Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard in 2023, previously the largest in tech, according to MNA Community. The previous record was Dell’s $67 billion purchase of EMC in 2016.
Mid-year, PwC said AI was creating a new era for M&A. “The race to build AI-driven computing power and capacity continues to drive semiconductor deals. The evolution of AI technologies more broadly has shifted deals from companies developing large language models to those building AI infrastructure.”
Locally, deals focused on telecommunications and banking – with Lesaka offering to buy Bank Zero – while IPO activity also featured. Ranked by value and based on available public data, here are the biggest international and local business moves in technology in 2025.
Time Magazine’s Person of the Year is “The Architects of AI”. (Source: Time Magazine)
Israeli mega tech exits: $71 billion
The collective sale of Israeli-founded companies throughout 2025 came to R1.2 trillion, including mega-acquisitions like Google’s purchase of Wiz and Palo Alto Networks’ purchase of CyberArk. This aggregate represents one of the largest regional tech exit totals globally in a single year.
Israeli tech saw record-breaking $71 billion in M&A activity in 2025. (Source: PR Newswire)
Israel has a reputation as a global hub for cyber security, enterprise software and AI start-ups, with investors and multinationals capitalising on the country’s innovation ecosystem to acquire companies with high strategic value in AI, cloud security and enterprise software.
Google buys Wiz: $32 billion
Google’s largest acquisition to date strengthens Google Cloud’s cyber security portfolio amid the rise of generative AI and multi-cloud adoption.
Google’s Chicago office. (Supplied)
Wiz’s cloud security platform adds critical capabilities for enterprise clients. The deal is expected to close in 2026 after regulatory approval, positioning Google to compete more effectively with Microsoft, Amazon and other hyperscalers in cloud security.
NVIDIA reaches $5 trillion market cap
At the end of October 2025, NVIDIA became the world’s most valuable company, briefly surpassing a $5 trillion market cap.
This was thanks to an early focus on gaming graphics processing units, which evolved into essential hardware for AI training and high-performance computing, giving it a dominant position in AI data centres.
NVIDIA shares hit an all-time high on 31 October 2025.
Soaring AI demand, control of architecture and software ecosystems, and expansion into automotive computing, edge AI and robotics kept demand strong. Even with Google’s Gemini 3 entering the market, NVIDIA still provides key infrastructure for major AI developers, sustaining share price growth.
Jason Spilkin, co-portfolio manager at Credo, explains that Google started designing its own custom tensor processing units (TPUs), which are the only other scaled deployment of AI chips (besides NVIDIA). TPUs are not as good at graphics and have poorer precision, but are far faster and more energy-efficient, giving Google’s Cloud Platform a competitive advantage as a low-cost AI provider.
As of this morning, shares traded at $180.93 (R3 048).
Palo Alto Networks acquires CyberArk: $25 billion
Palo Alto Networks announced its R421 billion acquisition of CyberArk Software, an Israeli company specialising in identity security and privileged access management, in July.
The strategy behind this move is to establish identity security as a core pillar of Palo Alto Networks’ cyber security platform, extending protection across human, machine and AI identities.
Palo Alto Networks’ Singapore office. (Supplied)
CyberArk’s solid recurring revenue growth and position in privileged access management complement Palo Alto’s Strata and Cortex platforms, creating an end-to-end security offering for enterprise environments and AI-driven workflows.
Meta buys 49% stake in Scale AI: $14.8 billion
Meta invested R247.7 billion to acquire a 49% stake in Scale AI to access its AI data annotation and model evaluation offerings.
This minority stake reflects an implied valuation of around $29 billion (R488.6 billion) for Scale AI, highlighting the value of AI training infrastructure.
Meta’s offices.
The rationale was securing critical AI capabilities, including human-in-the-loop data labelling, model evaluation and operational expertise.
By integrating Scale’s technology and talent, Meta accelerates its generative AI and machine learning initiatives, ensuring it remains competitive in the rapidly-evolving AI landscape.
MultiChoice Group delists from JSE and A2X
On 10 December, MultiChoice Group was formally delisted from both the JSE and A2X following French media conglomerate Canal+’s compulsory acquisition of more than 90% of the company’s shares.
The R55 billion deal marks the end of MultiChoice’s independent public market presence and reflects broader industry consolidation amid intense competition from global streaming players and declining subscriber numbers.
Canal+ plans a secondary inward listing on the JSE in 2026 to preserve access for South African investors, while integrating MultiChoice’s expansive African footprint into its broader content platform strategy.
Dubai-based fintech Optasia successfully completed a landmark JSE listing in November, becoming one of the largest fintech initial public offerings in SA history.
The company raised around R6.5 billion through its debut and private placements, resulting in an implied market capitalisation of around R23.5 billion at a R19 offer price per share.
Optasia, previously Channel VAS, has seen its shares decline 0.77% so far this year.
Optasia leverages AI to deliver micro-financing, mobile credit and financial services across emerging markets, partnering with major operators, including Vodacom and MTN.
Vodacom finalises Maziv fibre stake deal
After four years of regulatory and competition scrutiny, Vodacom finally secured approvals to implement its acquisition of a 30% stake in Maziv, the fibre infrastructure holding company that includes Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa.
The R14 billion transaction creates the country’s largest fibre company operating on an open-access basis.
Finalised at the start of this month, Vodacom’s investment supports Maziv’s infrastructure scaling – including commitments to pass thousands of new homes and mobile base stations with fibre.
On 27 November, Cell C Holdings made its long-anticipated JSE debut under ticker CCD, priced at R26.50, although 4 000 shares sold at R27.
The listing, an exit from Blu Label Unlimited (BLU), follows a multi-year turnaround strategy, including balance sheet restructuring, debt reduction, and an asset-light operating model underpinned by roaming and network partnerships covering nearly the entire country.
Cell C CEO Jorge Mendes blows the kudu horn at the JSE as the telco lists. (Photograph by Nicola Mawson)
Several Cell C CEOs had previously tried unsuccessfully to list the company. The listing enabled it to raise money to repay debt to BLU, facilitates an empowerment deal, and positions it to pay dividends when free cash flow allows.
Lesaka Technologies acquires Bank Zero
Lesaka’s purchase of Bank Zero, announced in June for R1.1 billion, is still awaiting approval from the SA Reserve Bank’s Prudential Authority and Exchange Control regulators. It has been cleared by competition authorities.
Lesaka Technologies is awaiting final approval to buy Bank Zero.
The digital-only bank, co-founded by Michael Jordaan and Yatin Narsai, will see Bank Zero shareholders retaining about 12% of Lesaka’s fully-diluted share capital.
The acquisition is designed to integrate Bank Zero’s digital banking infrastructure into Lesaka’s fintech platform, creating end-to-end financial services capability for consumers and businesses.
