Central Asia is becoming a new home for AI: why data centers are being built here

Just a few years ago, the largest data centers were primarily built in the United States and Western Europe, but today, global players are increasingly turning their attention to Central Asia and the Caucasus. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Armenia are gradually becoming new hubs for investment in digital infrastructure. Let’s explore why this is happening.

A New Stage of Regional Development

Until recently, Central Asia was primarily associated with markets for IT outsourcing and digital services. Today, the situation is changing: the region is beginning to attract investments into one of the most expensive technological infrastructures—hyper-scale data centers.

The main reason is the rapid growth of artificial intelligence. Modern AI models require tens of thousands of GPUs, stable power supply, and massive computing capacity. This is why major companies are seeking new locations for their infrastructure.

Kazakhstan Bets on AI Infrastructure

Kazakhstan is currently implementing the most ambitious plans.

In June, the government announced the creation of Data Center Valley—the largest AI infrastructure project in Central Asia. The project is being implemented in partnership with the American company Firebird, with support from NVIDIA. The total value of the agreements is estimated at $10 billion, and the computing cluster is planned to be built based on 100,000 modern GPUs.

The project will be located in Ekibastuz, where a data center campus with a capacity of up to 1 GW is planned to be created. According to government estimates, it could generate approximately $3 billion in annual export revenue for the country and attract the world’s leading technology players. 

Interest in the project has already been shown by Amazon and the Emirati AI company G42, which are considering participation in the Data Center Valley ecosystem. 

At the same time, Kazakhstan adopted a new law on the development of the telecommunications and data center market. The document recognizes data centers as strategic infrastructure and introduces a 70/30 mechanism, which will allow private investors to participate in the modernization of energy facilities to meet the needs of future AI centers. 

Additionally, in July, Kazakhstan announced the launch of another project in collaboration with Singapore’s GK Hyperscale. The construction of two hyper-scale data centers with a total IT capacity of 200 MW is planned, with investments of approximately 690 billion tenge. Authorities expect that such infrastructure will help attract Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and other global cloud providers.

Uzbekistan Becomes a New Digital Hub

Uzbekistan is also actively developing the data center sector.

One of the largest projects is an agreement with the Saudi company DataVolt, which is investing approximately $150 million in the construction of a new data center with a capacity of 12 MW. The project is aimed at developing cloud infrastructure and supporting the country’s digital economy. 

The Uzbek government has been consistently investing in digitalization, the development of IT Park Uzbekistan, and the export of IT services for several years. The growing number of international IT companies and cloud services is gradually increasing the demand for local computing power.

Armenia Bets on Artificial Intelligence

In the Caucasus, Armenia is becoming the most prominent player.

The company Firebird AI is developing a large-scale AI data center in Razdan. The delivery of the first NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs has already begun, and the first phase of the project includes the launch of an AI factory with a capacity of 18 MW. 

Later, Firebird plans to expand the infrastructure to 110,000 GPUs, which could make Armenia one of the largest AI hubs in the region.

Why Global Companies Choose This Region

The growing interest is explained by several factors.

Accessible electricity. Data centers consume huge amounts of electricity, so energy costs become one of the key factors in site selection.

Favorable geographic location. Central Asia and the Caucasus are located between Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, allowing for the creation of regional cloud platforms serving multiple markets simultaneously.

Active government support. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Armenia offer tax incentives, develop digital legislation, and invest in telecommunications infrastructure.

Growth of artificial intelligence. AI requires increasing computing power, so demand for modern data centers continues to grow rapidly.

What This Means for the Region

The emergence of large data centers is not just about constructing new buildings.

Such projects create thousands of jobs, stimulate the development of energy, telecommunications, and cloud services, attract international equipment suppliers, and help develop local AI ecosystems.

Furthermore, local infrastructure allows startups, universities, and research centers to access modern computing resources without the need to rely on foreign capacity.