Kazakhstan and U.S. technology companies have signed AI cooperation agreements valued at $10 billion.
Kazakhstan has taken a major step toward establishing itself as an AI leader by signing investment agreements with U.S. companies NVIDIA and Firebird worth up to $10 billion. On June 15, Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov hosted NVIDIA Vice President Rev Lebaredian and Firebird co-founders Razmig Hovaghimian and Alexander Yesayan to sign the accords for Kazakhstan's Data Center Valley project. Officials from both U.S. companies and Kazakhstan credited President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's declaration of 2026 as the Year of AI in Kazakhstan for emphasizing the nation's commitment to AI development. Firebird's Hovaghimian stated that if the agreements are realized, Kazakhstan could rank among the top 10 leading AI countries worldwide before the end of 2027.
Lebaredian presented AI development as a "five-layer cake," explaining that "the first layer is energy. The second layer is chips, including those from NVIDIA. The third layer is infrastructure. The next layer is AI models, such as ChatGPT," and applications. The NVIDIA vice president emphasized that "Kazakhstan can participate at every level of this five-layer cake," positioning the country to engage across the full spectrum of AI infrastructure development.
The Data Center Valley will be constructed in Ekibastuz, a northern city in Pavlodar Province known for its vast coal deposits and Soviet-era thermal power plant. Kazakh officials have committed an initial 300 megawatts of power for the AI center, with capacity gradually rising to approximately 1,000 MW. In the first phase, approximately $5 billion will be invested in developing the energy sector. Kaztelekom chief Bagdat Musin stated that "essentially, Kazakhstan is transforming Ekibastuz coal into digital export revenue."
When completed, the facility will host a large-scale computing cluster powered by 100,000 state-of-the-art GPU chips, including NVIDIA GB300 and Vera Rubin models. Firebird's press release noted a "three-phase expansion strategy" designed to scale beyond 100,000 NVIDIA Blackwell and Vera Rubin GPUs by the end of 2027, creating one of the world's largest AI computing platforms. Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development Zhaslan Madiyev projected that Kazakhstan expects to "generate at least $3 billion in annual export revenue, create new high-skilled jobs, (and) attract leading global technology companies." Firebird Labs Kazakhstan will also be established, based at Kazakhstan's International Center for Artificial Intelligence in the capital, Astana.
These agreements represent the latest in a series of U.S. investment deals since late 2025. President Tokayev announced the Data Center Valley project plan in January 2026. In May, a U.S.-linked international consortium signed a $1 billion to $1.5 billion deal for construction of a Tier III–Tier IV high-reliability data center with planned capacity ranging from 50 MW to 200 MW in Ekibastuz. Kazakhstan's broader investment trajectory includes a September 2025 agreement worth $4.2 billion with Wabtec for some 300 locomotives, and a November 2025 visit to Washington during which Kazakh companies signed agreements totaling approximately $17 billion, including around $1.1 billion for Cove Capital to develop a tungsten mine in Karaganda Province and a multi-billion-dollar deal for state airline Astana Air to purchase up to 15 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. While Uzbekistan is also constructing digital capacity through its IT Park in Tashkent and plans for a major data center in Karakalpakstan Republic, Kazakhstan's development remains more advanced, and the Data Center Valley facility will be the only installation of its kind for thousands of kilometers in any direction.