Nvidia Chief Visits Astana as Firm Moves To Build Major AI Compute Hub

Astana — Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang traveled to Kazakhstan on Oct. 23 and held talks with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev about partnerships to expand advanced computing in the country, officials said. The trip coincided with news that an Armenian-American company, Firebird.ai, has secured export clearance for about 45,000 Nvidia Grace Blackwell graphics processors to equip a new compute facility being developed with Kazakhtelecom.

Huang, who spoke at a public forum with Kazakhstan’s minister in charge of artificial intelligence, framed the country’s abundant energy and growing technical workforce as assets for hosting large-scale compute infrastructure. He argued the country’s industries, from mining to agriculture, stand to change as more processing power is brought onshore. Minister Zhaslan Madiyev signaled the government is also prioritizing models that support the Kazakh language.

Firebird.ai’s chief executive, Razmig Hovaghimian, said the collaboration with Astana moved quickly after government outreach and that the firm plans a two-phase build. The first stage is under construction and is slated to begin operations in the third quarter of 2027. If a second phase goes ahead, the site could approach roughly one-half of a gigawatt of compute capacity. Firebird also intends to open a local lab to train engineers and incubate startups.

Observers say the deal is as much geopolitical as economic. The Firebird–Nvidia project, operating under a Kazakhstan-registered entity, could strengthen Astana’s role in a U.S.-led initiative known as Pax Silica, which aims to secure supply chains for high-end AI hardware. Kazakhstan joined Pax Silica in June. But the government’s simultaneous engagement with a Chinese-backed program called WAICO has raised questions about whether Astana can balance competing partnerships. A draft U.S. State Department note this summer reportedly suggested WAICO membership might exclude Pax Silica participation; U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later told regional audiences that Central Asian nations would not be forced to choose between cooperation frameworks.

Local analysts say the investment could jump-start a domestic AI ecosystem but warn of practical hurdles. “Bringing large compute online will require grid upgrades, new regulatory clarity and a steady pipeline of trained specialists,” said Aigerim Sadykova, a technology policy researcher at a university in Nur-Sultan. She added that the proposed training lab could help build that pipeline, but that reliance on foreign chips and partners carries political and operational risks.

Kazakh officials have cast the projects as part of a wider push to turn energy exports into higher-value services and products produced at home. For residents and entrepreneurs in Astana, the immediate promises are new jobs and easier access to advanced cloud compute; for policymakers, the task will be managing foreign ties, infrastructure investment and workforce development as the buildout proceeds toward 2027.