Kazakhstan: $2B AI Project, NVIDIA Supercomputer, Cloud Expansion

Kazakhstan's $2B AI project launched in late 2025, centered on an NVIDIA supercomputer and national cloud expansion. This initiative establishes sovereign AI infrastructure through a clear, three-layer strategy designed to make the country a regional technology leader. The plan involves building sovereign supercomputing capacity, migrating enterprise systems to compliant cloud platforms, and developing large language models (LLMs) for Kazakh and other Central Asian languages. These projects are designed to ensure data sovereignty while accelerating digital transformation for both government and private sectors, positioning Kazakhstan to offer advanced tech services globally.

What is Kazakhstan's three-layer strategy for building sovereign AI infrastructure?

Kazakhstan's national strategy for sovereign AI infrastructure is built on three pillars. The first is creating an exascale AI supercomputing hub in partnership with NVIDIA and Freedom Holding. The second involves a comprehensive upgrade of enterprise cloud and network infrastructure with partners like HPE, Cisco, and Oracle. The third pillar focuses on developing locally-trained large language models for Kazakh and other regional languages through a collaboration between QazCode and MeetKai.

Layer 1 - Exascale sovereign AI hub

This layer involves Freedom Holding Corp. financing and operating a 100 MW campus for an NVIDIA exascale GPU cluster. The facility, supported by government incentives for power and data sovereignty, aims to provide sovereign supercomputing power, keeping all AI training operations within Kazakhstan's national borders.

Upon its initial launch in 2026, the facility is projected to deliver approximately 2 exaflops of FP8 performance. This capacity rivals the country's existing Alem.cloud supercomputer, which ranked 86th globally in July 2025. The Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development is supporting the project with preferential power rates and data-sovereignty regulations.

"Working with NVIDIA is an important step in implementing Kazakhstan's national AI strategy. We are building the foundation of a sovereign AI ecosystem that will strengthen our economy, enhance competitiveness, and unlock new opportunities for the entire region."
- Deputy Prime Minister Zhaslan Madiyev, November 2025

Layer 2 - Enterprise cloud & data plumbing

To modernize the country's digital backbone, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Cisco, and Oracle have committed to significant infrastructure projects. While the initial MOUs are valued at $1 million each, their impact is extensive. HPE is providing GreenLake capacity for hybrid analytics, Cisco is designing a nationwide 5G/6G network, and Oracle is launching a local Oracle Cloud region focused on sovereign database services. This new middleware layer will enable key sectors like banking, telecom, and government to upgrade legacy systems while complying with Kazakhstan's data-residency law 94-V.

Layer 3 - Vernacular large language models

The strategy's third layer focuses on creating custom large language models (LLMs) for regional languages. QazCode, VEON's software division, has partnered with California's MeetKai to develop LLMs for Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Training will occur on local GPU clusters, including the new Freedom-NVIDIA hub. The models will be fine-tuned for applications like healthcare diagnostics, agricultural technology advice, and public service chatbots. QazCode's previous success with its award-winning KazLLM model provides a strong foundation for optimizing performance in low-resource languages.

Market context in numbers

Metric	Value	Source
Total U.S. commercial deals signed during summit	$17.2 billion	Freedom Holding Corp. IR
NVIDIA-Freedom AI hub power capacity	100 MW	Investing.com
Potential end-users of QazCode-MeetKai models	150 million	VEON press release
Kazakhstan's TOP-500 rank (Alem.cloud)	86	TimesCA

Practical impact for business managers

Businesses using enterprise platforms like Salesforce, SAP, or Microsoft can connect to this new sovereign infrastructure via approved local integrators. The benefits are tangible: one regional CRM provider reported a 30-40% faster AI-driven sales cycle by hosting Tableau and MuleSoft on local HPE GreenLake pods. This in-country hosting eliminates cross-border data latency and simplifies compliance. Similar performance gains are anticipated from pilot projects in the pharmaceutical and consumer goods sectors in early 2026.

Competitive skyline

In the regional landscape, Kazakhstan's 100 MW project establishes a significant compute advantage over competitors like Uzbekistan, which is developing a 1 MW NVIDIA center and a planned 50 MW DataVolt facility. To maintain this lead, Kazakhstan is investing heavily in human capital. The Ministry of Digital Development is co-funding 1,000 AI scholarships each year, and Freedom Holding will offer 200 graduate internships beginning in the second quarter of 2026.

"Our task is to ensure that Kazakhstan does not just adopt global solutions but contributes to creating them."
- Timur Turlov, CEO Freedom Holding Corp.

Procurement calendar

• Q1 2026 - RFP for 5 000 km of Cisco-powered fiber back-haul
• Q2 2026 - Oracle Cloud region goes live with first 50 local tenants
• Q3 2026 - Initial 20 MW of the Freedom-NVIDIA hall open for sandbox access
• Q4 2026 - QazCode beta release of trilingual Kazakh-Uzbek-Russian model (7 B parameters)

While an official "sovereign AI infrastructure," these advanced resources - from GPU clusters to data networks - will be accessible to multinational corporations through joint ventures and usage-based models. Kazakhstan is strategically positioning itself as a unique global tech hub, offering a rare combination of access to Central Asian data, low-cost renewable energy, and cutting-edge U.S. technology within a single, streamlined regulatory environment.