BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 19. Kazakhstan has secured over $10 billion for a 250 MW AI data center hub backed by NVIDIA, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov told President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kazakh president's press service says.
The announcement came at a meeting in Astana where Tokayev reviewed the implementation of strategic digitalization directives. According to the press service the project, called Data Center Valley, is being developed in Ekibastuz, Pavlodar region, on 1,400 hectares of allocated land. The first phase targets 125 MW of capacity, with commercial operations expected by 2027.
"Together with global IT leaders, an infrastructure with a capacity of 250 MW is being deployed," Bektenov stated, according to the press service. "The volume of attracted foreign investment exceeds $10 billion."
Kazakhstan is developing Data Center Valley together with U.S.-based Firebird, whose key partner is NVIDIA. The first phase allocates $5 billion, including a $1 billion contribution from state-run Kazakhtelecom, to deploy approximately 100,000 next-generation NVIDIA GPUs, including GB300 and Vera Rubin models. Once up and running, the project is expected to generate no less than $3 billion in annual export revenue and create new jobs.
Bektenov also reported that IT services exports grew 60% in 2025 year-on-year, reaching $1.1 billion. He outlined additional plans covering transport and tourism: construction of a second airport for Astana is underway, Almaty's mountain tourism cluster is being developed with the SuperSki resort - featuring 60 km of trails and capacity for 10,000 visitors per day - set to open in December 2028, and the country is in final preparations to host the Games of the Future multi-sport tournament.
Trend's analysis shows that the Data Center Valley project represents a structural bet by Kazakhstan on AI infrastructure as an export category rather than simply a tool for domestic digitalization. The framing - $3 billion in projected annual export revenue against a $10 billion investment - implies a return horizon of roughly three to four years on the initial capital, a timeline that depends heavily on sustained global demand for GPU compute capacity and Kazakhstan's ability to deliver reliable, low-cost power at scale. Power supply is central to the project's viability: the government has said 300 MW of capacity is already available for the Ekibastuz project, with phased expansion planned to 1 GW. Ekibastuz is one of Kazakhstan's major coal power hubs, giving the project access to cheap baseload electricity - a key competitive advantage over data center locations in Western Europe and Southeast Asia where power costs are significantly higher.
Secretary-General of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO), Deemah AlYahya, told Trend in an exclusive interview that Kazakhstan is steadily strengthening its position in the global digital transformation and innovation landscape, emerging as one of Central Asia’s leading digital economies.
"According to the Digital Economy Navigator (DEN) 2025 developed by the DCO, Kazakhstan demonstrates particularly strong performance in several key pillars that are essential for building an inclusive and future-ready digital economy," she said.
AlYahya noted that the DEN is a comprehensive global framework that measures the maturity of the digital economy across 80 countries, representing 85% of the world’s population and 94% of global GDP. Built on 145 indicators from internationally recognized data sources and global surveys, the DEN evaluates countries across three dimensions: Digital Enablers, Digital Business, and Digital Society, with countries assessed on a scale of 0 to 100 across the various pillars and subpillars.
