Nvidia's Jensen Huang Visits Kazakhstan as Tech Investment Push Builds

Kazakhstan may not be the first country that springs to mind in the global AI race, but Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made his first visit there on Friday, saying the country could become a major AI computing hub serving Europe. He pointed to its energy resources and plans to expand data center capacity.

Speaking in Astana with Deputy Prime Minister Zhaslan Madiyev, Huang stressed that countries should build infrastructure to deliver AI services domestically and adapt the technology to their own languages and cultures.

Kazakhstan has made AI a national priority, declaring 2026 the Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence. In June, the government announced a $10 billion AI infrastructure plan with U.S.-based Firebird, aimed at a computing cluster powered by 100,000 advanced GPUs, including Nvidia chips. Nvidia said it intends to invest in the company, which is pursuing an approximately 2-gigawatt expansion across Armenia, Kazakhstan and other markets.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said this month that two supercomputing clusters powered by Nvidia technology had already launched. At the center of the push is Data Center Valley, a planned hub in Ekibastuz with 300 megawatts of power capacity available and plans to reach 1 gigawatt.

San Francisco-based AI video startup Higgsfield has more than 300 people working in Kazakhstan. It said Friday that Nvidia and investment firm TCV had invested in an extension of its Series B round, without disclosing the amount; it had previously raised $400 million at a $5.4 billion valuation in August. "The first thing and the last thing is you invest in people, not companies," Huang said.

Beyond AI, Singapore-based GK Hyperscale has signed an agreement for two hyperscale data centers, with expected investment of $1.5 billion and 200 megawatts of combined IT capacity, plus a planned $1.2 billion in power infrastructure. Volkswagen also announced entry into Kazakhstan this year.

Source: CNBC