ASTANA — Kazakhstan signed $10 billion worth of agreements with the United States AI infrastructure company Firebird and technology leader NVIDIA to develop large-scale artificial intelligence infrastructure, marking one of the country’s most ambitious technology investments to date.
Photo credit: gov.kz
The agreements, signed following a June 16 meeting chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, lay the groundwork for the Data Center Valley project in Ekibastuz, which aims to transform Kazakhstan into a regional hub for AI computing, cloud services and digital infrastructure, the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development reported.
Government officials said the initiative will include the construction of advanced data centers and the deployment of a computing cluster powered by 100,000 next-generation graphics processing units (GPUs), including NVIDIA’s GB300 and Vera Rubin chips.
According to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development Zhaslan Madiyev, the project is expected to generate at least $3 billion in annual export revenue, create high-skilled jobs, and attract global technology companies.
Artificial intelligence has become a central element of Kazakhstan’s economic modernization strategy. Bektenov noted that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has designated 2026 as the Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence and recently approved the country’s new Digital Qazaqstan strategy.
“Our goal is to create a platform capable of hosting global digital infrastructure,” Bektenov said.
NVIDIA Vice President Rev Lebaredian highlighted energy availability as a key factor in AI development, describing it as the foundation upon which computing infrastructure is built.
“Kazakhstan has energy. Because the country has it in abundance and can generate even more, it is an excellent place to start,” Lebaredian said.
Firebird Chief Executive Officer Razmig Hovaghimian said the company’s planned launch in 2027 could place Kazakhstan among the world’s top ten countries in AI infrastructure.
The agreements include a strategic cooperation framework between the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development and Firebird to support the country’s AI ecosystem and establish Firebird Labs Kazakhstan at Alem.ai. A separate agreement between Kazakhtelecom and Firebird outlines technical and organizational cooperation on the Data Center Valley project.
Officials said the initiative reflects growing global demand for computing capacity as countries compete to attract the infrastructure needed to support the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence industry.
If completed as planned, Data Center Valley would become one of the largest digital infrastructure projects in Central Eurasia and a key pillar of Kazakhstan’s efforts to diversify its economy beyond traditional resource exports.
