How Kazakhstan's IT industry developed in 2025: key events, AI initiatives, and international cooperation

Key Achievements

The results of 2025 in Kazakhstan demonstrate significant progress in digitalization and the development of artificial intelligence. The country has established the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development. The Law “On Artificial Intelligence” has been adopted, and the AI Council under the President has been created, ensuring the safe and ethical application of technologies.

According to StartupBlink, Kazakhstan ranked first in Central Asia and entered the top 75 startup ecosystems in the world. Astana Hub received the Best Startup Ecosystem in Central Asia award. The country also launched the Digital Nomad Residency pilot project to attract foreign IT specialists.

Kazakhstan ranked 34th in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness 2024 ranking, demonstrating strong positions in human capital development, digital government services, and IT infrastructure. In terms of infrastructure, the national supercomputing center alem.cloud and the commercial supercomputer of Kazakhtelecom were launched, providing government agencies with access to AI solutions.

New startups have appeared in the technological ecosystem, and Astana Hub hosts approximately 2,000 companies, 20 regional and four international hubs, ensuring IT exports at the level of $1 billion.

Government digital services have also seen development: the eGov Mobile application, used by 6.4 million people, was updated; eGov Business was launched, providing 4.6 million services; and the top 10 services of the National Center for Public Services were fully transitioned to an online format. 

In Astana, the International Artificial Intelligence Center alem.ai opened, including educational programs, an AI museum, a startup campus, and laboratories of Big Tech companies. As part of student support, the AI-Sana program was launched.

The “Accessible Internet” program provided high-speed internet in more than 3,000 villages, 4G coverage reached 3,100 villages, and 5G covered 3,200 base stations. In 2025, Starlink with Direct-to-Cell technology began operating, providing connectivity even in remote regions.

In the crypto industry, soft regulation has been introduced: mining rules have been simplified, the circulation of cryptocurrencies for individuals has been permitted, licensing for crypto exchanges and regulation of digital financial assets (DFAs) are being developed, and CryptoCity, the Alem Crypto Fund, the stablecoin kztX, the Solana Economic Zone, and the localization of the Kraken exchange have been launched.

A decision was made to create Alatau City — a new city focused on AI, high technologies, and an innovative economy. The city will be located along the strategic Almaty-Konayev highway, connecting the Western Europe – Western China transport corridor.

In the field of infrastructure, Kazakhstan has launched the most powerful NVIDIA H200 supercomputer, the first sovereign AI factory, and the first blockchain zone in Central Asia based on Solana.

International Cooperation

Telegram founder, Pavel Durov, visited the Digital Bridge forum and announced the opening of a Telegram artificial intelligence laboratory in Kazakhstan at alem.ai. The laboratory will operate on the basis of national AI infrastructure and focus on developing advanced AI solutions.

In 2025, the Khan Tengri Innovation Hub opened in Shanghai — an international platform for supporting startups from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Central Eurasian countries. The project is implemented with the support of Astana Hub and IT Park Uzbekistan.

Astana Hub, together with Solana Superteam KZ, opened a representation office in Kazakhstan, created an active community of developers, and conducted free online courses, hackathons, and accelerators to train specialists, support startups, and integrate Kazakhstani projects into the international Solana ecosystem.

Kazakhstan and the UAE agreed on cooperation in the field of digitalization and artificial intelligence, including exchanging experience between government agencies, training civil servants, developing AI solutions, and improving digital government services.

In Washington, Kazakhstan signed international memorandums and agreements with leading companies worth approximately $17 billion, covering AI, digitalization, education, and innovation, including a memorandum with OpenAI providing Kazakhstani educators with access to the educational version of ChatGPT Edu.

Freedom Holding Corp. and Nvidia are creating a sovereign artificial intelligence center costing $2 billion with a capacity of 100 MW. The center will include an AI Academy, a research laboratory, and provide access to ChatGPT Edu for 165,000 teachers, strengthening the country’s positions in AI and innovation.

Kazakhstan signed a memorandum with Perplexity AI and “Kazakhtelecom,” under which citizens will be able to use the Perplexity Pro service for free for one year. The cooperation also includes the development of data centers, research projects, and the alem.ai platform for implementing AI and improving the digital literacy of the population.

In 2025, Kazakhstan, together with Meta and the Blockchain & AI Technology Centre, launched the Meta LLaMA Accelerator Kazakhstan to support AI developers and train startups in creating scalable AI products with access to supercomputers. The cooperation also covers digital security, protecting children from harmful content, and combating online fraud on Meta platforms.

Google launched the Gemini artificial intelligence model in the Kazakh language, adding it to the list of 23 new languages of the Gemini 3 generation. The interface is already available in the web version, and mobile versions and the Gemini Live mode will appear soon, expanding AI capabilities for citizens of Kazakhstan and contributing to the development of the country’s AI ecosystem.

IT Company News

Kazakhstan has become a leader in creating startups valued at $1 billion and $10 billion, demonstrating growth rates on par with leading global ecosystems, including the US and China.

Satbayev University and inDrive opened the inVision U faculty with free education in IT, marketing, media, and science, focusing on practice and team projects, and in Almaty, the Artificial Intelligence School launched with the support of Qazaq IT Community, where young specialists study machine learning algorithms and neural networks.

At its large-scale presentation, Kaspi.kz introduced Kaspi.Alaqan — a palm payment service that allows making purchases and conducting transactions without a smartphone, card, or internet connection.

Demonstration networks for Huawei 10G have started, and the largest hyper-scale data centers are being built, which will ensure the development of cloud technologies, AI, and high-performance computing, create more than 360 jobs, and the share of Kazakhstani content will be no less than $1.2 billion.

Additionally, construction has begun in Almaty on the Freedom Cloud data center with investments of 175 billion tenge, which became the first official partner of Amazon Web Services in Central Asia.

Furthermore, Tech Garden was renamed Almaty Hub and integrated into the Astana Hub structure, continuing to develop the innovative ecosystem and support technological entrepreneurship.

In Kazakhstan, a fund of funds appeared in the venture sector — Qazaqstan Venture Group, which attracted $115 million for the Alem Ventures Fund with a target indicator of $1 billion under the leadership of Askar Bilisbekov, starting investments in regional and international funds.

The fund has already invested up to $3 million in the MOST Accelerator Fund and, together with UzVC, up to $10 million in Big Sky Capital, supporting startups at the Pre-Seed and Seed stages.

Previously, QIC invested $30 million in the Alem Ventures Fund from a target capital of $1 billion.

Additionally, Timur Turlov created Freedom Ventures Ltd. with a capital of 5 billion tenge for investment activities.

Successful IT Startups of the Year

This year, Higgsfield AI became the first Kazakhstani unicorn, raising $53.1 million, also entered the list of the 25 most innovative startups in the world according to the international venture fund Lightspeed, and reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue.

In March, CerebraAI, developing AI programs for stroke diagnosis via non-contrast CT, entered the list of the top 15 startups in the US and Canada in the Google for Startups Cloud AI Accelerator program. Previously, the company also confirmed compliance with HIPAA standards, ensuring a high level of medical data protection and opening opportunities for global cooperation.

The startup by 18-year-old Arlan Rakhmetzhanov, Nozomio, received $6.2 million to develop an AI platform that helps developers navigate large codebases faster and automate routine tasks.

The startup SHAI develops platforms based on AI for corporate AI agents and digital assistants. In 2025, SHAI raised $5 million and began cooperation with an Alphabet subsidiary.

CodiPlay is used in more than 1,200 educational institutions in 13 countries. The startup raised $9 million in a Series A round at a valuation of $100 million, received five EdTech Impact Awards, and signed a partnership with ZARNet to implement its platform in more than 11,000 schools in Zimbabwe.

The Aleem app for learning English surpassed Duolingo two days after release and topped the ranking of free educational apps in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Currently, the service has more than 300,000 users.

All key startups of 2025 are featured in the final article by The Tech.

Major IT Events Held in the Country

2025 in Kazakhstan was rich for the IT community. DIGITAL ALMATY took place, bringing together leading companies and demonstrating advanced digitalization technologies. Central Eurasian Venture Forum 2025 attracted investors and supported the development of the country’s startup ecosystem.

For IT leaders, the CIO Summit‑2025 was held, where they exchanged experience and discussed current industry trends. AlmatyFair.ai showcased successes in the field of artificial intelligence, and Google DevFest Almaty 2025 gathered developers and enthusiasts of new technologies. Kolesa Conf 2025 focused on digital solutions for business and the transport industry, demonstrating the practical application of technologies.

In Astana, the international tournament PGL Astana 2025 for CS2 took place with a record prize fund of $1.25 million, where 16 top teams from around the world and several Kazakhstani players participated.

The international forum BeWoman Asia 2025 in Almaty discussed the role of women in technology, tech diplomacy, AI, and global opportunities for startups. beetech conf by QazCode provided a platform for discussing innovations in programming and IT products, and NEXT MBA brought together participants of educational and business programs to develop managerial and digital competencies.

The final event was the Digital Bridge 2025 forum in Astana. The event gathered more than 30,000 participants, including key representatives of the IT industry and the startup community of Central Asia. Within the framework of the forum, panel sessions, workshops, hackathons, an AI Art Zone, drone football, and AI Week took place with such guests as Pavel Durov — founder of Telegram, Kai-Fu Lee — investor and former president of Google China, Paul Kim — expert in artificial intelligence and education, Lily Liu — president of the Solana Foundation, Peter Norvig — director of research at Google, and many others.