Kazakhstan has signed an agreement with Firebird Inc. to develop computing infrastructure projects involving NVIDIA technology. The government said the initiative, known as the Data Center Valley, is expected to attract $10 billion in investment.
Read also: What you need to know about Kazakhstan’s new $16B AI strategy.
The funding will be used to build artificial intelligence-focused data centers with a combined capacity of at least 300 megawatts (MW).
Data center hub planned in Ekibastuz
The partners plan to collaborate on the large-scale Data Center Valley project in Ekibastuz. Investors are being offered land for data center development and access to competitively priced electricity.
The project will initially utilize 300 MW of available power capacity, with plans to gradually expand to 1 gigawatt (GW).
Investment to be rolled out in two phases
The first phase of the project is expected to attract $5 billion in investment, including $1 billion from Kazakhtelecom. The initial development will provide between 100 MW and 125 MW of computing capacity and is scheduled to begin in 2027.
The second phase will involve an additional $5 billion in investment. The funding will support the creation of a large-scale AI computing cluster powered by 100,000 advanced graphics processing units (GPUs), including NVIDIA GB300 and NVIDIA Vera Rubin systems.
Division of responsibilities
Under the agreement, Firebird’s Kazakh subsidiary will finance and provide AI computing infrastructure and related technologies. Kazakhtelecom will supply the power, cooling systems and telecommunications infrastructure required to operate the data centers.
NVIDIA is supporting Firebird in project design and will also provide GPUs and other technology solutions.
The planned AI infrastructure complex will cover an area comparable to several sports stadiums.
