Kazakhstan, NVIDIA join hands to position country as global Physical AI hub
Astana: Kazakhstan has stepped up efforts to establish itself as a global hub for Physical Artificial Intelligence (AI), bringing together its energy resources, industrial base, computing infrastructure and growing technology ecosystem, as NVIDIA founder and Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang visited Astana to explore opportunities for advancing the country’s AI ambitions.
Huang’s visit marks a new phase in Kazakhstan’s engagement with the global technology industry, as the Central Asian country seeks to move beyond adopting existing AI solutions towards developing and exporting its own technologies in robotics, industrial automation and autonomous systems.
During his visit, Huang met Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development Zhaslan Madiyev at alem.ai, Astana’s International Centre for Artificial Intelligence, where he was briefed on the country’s national AI strategy, sovereign computing infrastructure, talent development programmes and technology products developed by local companies.
The discussions focused on the global AI industry’s future, the strategic importance of energy and high-performance computing, and the growing role of Physical AI in transforming industrial production, transport, logistics and other sectors.
Huang praised Kazakhstan’s commitment to artificial intelligence, noting that the country had made AI development a national priority at the presidential level.
“Kazakhstan is the first country I have visited where the President has declared AI development a national priority,” Huang said, adding that AI could help the country advance economically, empower its people and enable domestic companies to compete in international markets.
He said artificial intelligence and robotics would expand the capabilities of scientists, engineers and businesses, stressing that ambition and leadership would be critical to translating technological opportunities into global competitiveness.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has set the objective of transforming Kazakhstan into a fully digital country, with artificial intelligence serving as a key driver of economic growth. In 2025, the government established a dedicated Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development, while Kazakhstan also moved to introduce a comprehensive legal framework for AI.
The strategy builds on years of progress in digital government services, fintech, e-commerce and technology entrepreneurship. Kazakhstan’s e-government platform has helped expand online public services, while its technology sector is increasingly seeking international investment, partnerships and access to global markets.
Physical AI emerges as strategic priority
Physical AI represents the next stage in the development of artificial intelligence, extending its applications beyond digital content and software into machines and systems capable of perceiving, interpreting and acting in the physical world.
The technology underpins applications such as autonomous robots, intelligent factories, self-driving systems, industrial automation and digital twins that replicate real-world operations.
Kazakhstan believes its combination of energy resources, heavy industry, critical minerals and strategic geography gives it an opportunity to develop and test these technologies under real operating conditions.
The country is a major energy producer and the world’s largest uranium producer, while its substantial wind and solar potential could support the expansion of energy-intensive computing infrastructure. Its mining, metallurgy, oil and gas industries also offer practical environments for deploying AI-based systems to improve productivity, operational efficiency and workplace safety.
Its position along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, widely known as the Middle Corridor, provides further opportunities to apply intelligent systems to freight movement, logistics and cross-border trade between Europe and Asia.
Kazakhstan’s critical-mineral resources also connect it to international supply chains serving the electronics, robotics and advanced manufacturing industries.
By combining these advantages, the government aims to attract technology companies seeking industrial testing environments and access to new markets, while accelerating domestic modernisation and creating high-value employment.
“Kazakhstan has set itself an ambitious goal: to become one of the world’s centres for Physical AI,” Madiyev said.
He said the government was expanding computing infrastructure, investing in talent and developing an environment conducive to technology companies, adding that cooperation with NVIDIA could open opportunities to apply advanced AI across industry, energy, transport and robotics.
“Our ambition is not only to adopt existing solutions, but to create our own technologies that compete on the global market,” he said.
Computing infrastructure to support AI ambitions
As global demand for AI computing capacity increases, Kazakhstan is seeking to leverage its energy resources and geographical advantages to develop infrastructure capable of supporting large-scale AI workloads.
A key component of the initiative is Alem.Cloud, a national supercomputer powered by NVIDIA H200 graphics processing units. According to the information provided by the organisers, the system ranks among the world’s top 100 supercomputers. Another computing facility, AI-Farabium, is located in Almaty.
The country is also planning Data Center Valley in Ekibastuz, an initiative envisaged to begin with 250 megawatts of capacity, with the potential to expand to one gigawatt.
In June 2026, Kazakhstan announced a package of AI infrastructure agreements valued at approximately $10 billion. The plans include a large-scale computing cluster of up to 100,000 GPUs based on NVIDIA technologies.
The government’s objective is to convert these investments into a broader technology ecosystem that generates skilled jobs, develops locally owned intellectual property and expands exports, rather than limiting the country’s role to hosting data centres.
The strategy reflects an increasingly important global consideration: access to reliable energy, advanced chips and high-performance computing is becoming central to countries’ ability to develop and deploy AI at scale.
Kazakhstan’s technology startups target global markets
The emergence of internationally competitive technology companies is another pillar of Kazakhstan’s AI strategy, with local startup Higgsfield presented as an example of the ecosystem’s growing capabilities.
The company develops generative AI tools for video creation and has attained unicorn status. Figures cited by the company put its valuation at more than $9 billion, while its annualised revenue reportedly reached $1 billion within 18 months of launch. Higgsfield also says it processes more than 10 trillion tokens a month and employs over 600 people in Kazakhstan.
Huang highlighted the importance of investing in skilled people and building teams capable of competing internationally.
“The first thing and the last thing is that you invest in people, not companies,” he said, describing Higgsfield’s founders as visionaries and praising the technical expertise of its workforce.
He noted that the company’s operations in Kazakhstan and the United States enabled it to draw on the expertise and experience of both countries while competing in the international market.
The company’s development illustrates how technology businesses based in Kazakhstan can serve customers worldwide, attract international investment and create specialised employment at home.
Astana Hub, the country’s international technology and innovation cluster, supports startups seeking investment, scaling opportunities and access to foreign markets. International programmes, including NVIDIA Inception, also provide participating companies with technology resources and industry expertise.
Talent development at the centre of strategy
Kazakhstan is placing particular emphasis on education and skills development to ensure that its infrastructure investments translate into technological capabilities.
The alem.ai centre hosts initiatives including TUMO Astana and Tomorrow School, which provide training in coding and other digital skills to help prepare the next generation of technology professionals.
Planned cooperation with NVIDIA includes education initiatives involving alem.ai, Astana Hub, QAIRU and leading technical universities across the country. A regional NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute centre at QAIRU is among the options under discussion.
Representatives from 12 technical universities have already participated in a pilot programme associated with the Deep Learning Institute.
Magzhan Madiyev, chief executive officer of Astana Hub, said Huang’s visit had created new opportunities for Kazakhstani technology companies, particularly those developing solutions at the intersection of AI, robotics, industrial systems and infrastructure.
He said startups in Kazakhstan were already working on robotics, autonomous control and intelligent systems, and that the priority was to give these teams access to infrastructure, expertise and international partners so they could develop their products and enter global markets.
AI Month concludes with international engagement
Huang’s visit also marked the conclusion of AI Month, a series of international artificial intelligence events organised in Kazakhstan with NVIDIA as its general partner.
The programme began on September 23 with HackAlem AI, an international hackathon focused on developing AI agents. Organisers said the event secured a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the largest number of participants in an AI hackathon.
The conclusion of AI Month provided an opportunity to showcase Kazakhstan’s technology ambitions to the international AI community and highlight the role of collaboration between government, universities, startups and global technology companies.
For Kazakhstan, the next challenge will be to translate its growing infrastructure, industrial capabilities and talent base into commercially viable technologies that can compete internationally.
The country’s long-term ambition is to establish an integrated Physical AI ecosystem in which energy, computing power, industrial applications and engineering expertise reinforce one another.
Through its engagement with NVIDIA and other international technology partners, Kazakhstan hopes to attract investment, modernise traditional industries, develop domestic AI products and establish new sources of economic growth.
Huang’s visit has brought that ambition into sharper international focus, positioning Physical AI as a potential bridge between Kazakhstan’s traditional economic strengths and its aspirations in the global digital economy.