Nvidia’s Huang Visits Kazakhstan as AI Hub Ambitions Draw Investment

Speaking in a fireside chat in Astana with Zhaslan Madiyev, Kazakhstan’s deputy prime minister and minister of artificial intelligence and digital development, Huang said countries should develop their own AI capabilities and have infrastructure to deliver AI services domestically while adapting the technology to their own languages and cultures.

The visit comes as Kazakhstan seeks to attract billions of dollars in technology investment and position itself as a regional AI hub. Kazakhstan has declared 2026 the Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence.

In June, the government announced a $10 billion AI infrastructure investment with U.S.-based AI cloud company Firebird, aimed at building a computing cluster powered by 100,000 advanced GPUs, including Nvidia chips. Nvidia said it intends to invest in Firebird, which is pursuing an approximately 2-gigawatt AI infrastructure expansion across Armenia, Kazakhstan and other markets.

San Francisco-based AI video startup Higgsfield also has more than 300 people working across engineering and creative teams in Kazakhstan. Its co-founder, Kazakhstani AI engineer Yerzat Dulat, told CNBC exclusively that building a team there was “an unexpected bet for many” and that the company is now backed by influential technology and media names. Higgsfield said Friday that Nvidia and investment firm TCV had invested in an extension of its Series B funding round without disclosing the amount. The startup had earlier raised $400 million in a Series B round at a $5.4 billion valuation in August.

Huang said in the chat: “The first thing and the last thing is you invest in people, not companies. And the founders of Higgsfield are visionary in the work that they do.”

At the center of Kazakhstan’s push is Data Center Valley, a planned AI infrastructure hub in Ekibastuz where 300 megawatts of power capacity is already available, with plans to expand to 1 gigawatt. The country is promoting competitive electricity costs, large land reserves and investment incentives to international data center developers.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said earlier this month that two supercomputing clusters powered by Nvidia technologies had already been launched in the country. Kazakhstan’s digital development ministry said Singapore-based GK Hyperscale signed an agreement with the government to develop two hyperscale data centers, with expected investment of $1.5 billion and combined IT capacity of 200 megawatts. The project includes a planned $1.2 billion investment in power infrastructure, with construction initially scheduled to begin in early 2026 and the first data center module expected to become operational in 2027.

Corporate interest extends beyond AI. Volkswagen revamped its Central Asia push this year, announcing in late June that its China business and factories were leading vehicle exports to another country for the first time, in this case Uzbekistan. A few weeks later, the automaker announced entry into Kazakhstan. The expansion shows international companies looking beyond China for new customers while using their existing Chinese manufacturing operations to serve neighboring markets.

In a “Tianjin Declaration” at the close of the 2025 SCO Summit, members noted the potential of platforms such as an AI innovation center in Kazakhstan. This year’s SCO event on artificial intelligence took place earlier this month in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, bringing together representatives from member states to discuss national AI strategies, regulation and opportunities for technological cooperation.