Jensen Huang Backs Kazakhstan as AI Hub for Europe, Citing $10 Billion Buildout
Updated
Updated · CNBC · Oct 23
Jensen Huang Backs Kazakhstan as AI Hub for Europe, Citing $10 Billion Buildout
1 articles · Updated · CNBC · Oct 23
Summary
Astana hosted Jensen Huang on his first Kazakhstan visit, where he said the country could become a major AI computing hub for Europe thanks to abundant power and expanding data-center capacity.
That pitch aligns with Kazakhstan's push to attract tech capital: the government in June unveiled a $10 billion AI infrastructure plan with Firebird centered on a 100,000-GPU computing cluster using Nvidia chips.
Data Center Valley in Ekibastuz is the flagship site, with 300 megawatts already available and plans to scale to 1 gigawatt as Kazakhstan markets cheap electricity, land and incentives to developers.
Corporate interest is already broadening: President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said two Nvidia-powered supercomputing clusters have launched, while GK Hyperscale plans $1.5 billion for two hyperscale data centers plus $1.2 billion in power infrastructure.
Huang also used the trip to argue countries should build domestic AI capacity tailored to local languages and cultures, reinforcing Kazakhstan's 2026 'Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence' strategy.