Kazakhstan and U.S. Collaborate on AI Initiatives

Kazakhstan and the United States have announced significant collaboration in artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure during the C5+1 Summit in Washington earlier this month. This summit marked a pivotal change in U.S. engagement with Central Asia, moving beyond traditional energy and security discussions to focus on technology and AI.

The U.S. aims to ensure its AI growth is supported by secure energy sources, resilient digital infrastructure, and diversified supply chains. Investment banks and analysts have identified energy supply and cooling capacity as critical bottlenecks to the expansion of AI data centers, which consume far more power than traditional computing systems.

During the summit, a key initiative was the establishment of a $2 billion regional AI Compute Hub in Kazakhstan, in partnership with NVIDIA. Additional memoranda were signed, totaling over $1 billion, with companies such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco, and Oracle to enhance collaboration in data infrastructure, cloud services, and AI solutions.

These initiatives aim to foster a transcontinental digital partnership, crucial for U.S. expansion of trusted AI capabilities and diversified computing resources. Kazakhstan possesses the necessary energy and resources, including being the world’s leading producer of uranium, accounting for more than 40 percent of global production and supplying about a quarter of U.S. imports.

The country also has significant reserves of copper, lithium, tungsten, and rare earth elements, which are vital for servers, semiconductors, and the clean-tech supply chain supporting AI infrastructure.

By collaborating, the U.S. and Kazakhstan can enhance critical-mineral security and build processing capacity closer to demand centers, aligning with U.S. goals to diversify supply chains. Furthermore, Kazakhstan is undergoing its own digital transformation with the establishment of the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development earlier this year.

This ministry is working on enhancing national computing capacity and ethical frameworks for high-risk AI systems. Kazakhstan is also developing a supercomputer and a Kazakh-language large language model.

An important project, the Trans-Caspian Fiber Optic project, is underway to connect Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan via a subsea cable, which will improve data transmission between Central Asia and Europe. Global technology firms, including Starlink, Amazon Kuiper, and Meta, are involved in enhancing satellite connectivity and cloud infrastructure in Kazakhstan.

American investments exceeding $100 billion over the past 30 years have laid the groundwork for this partnership, which is now pivoting from hydrocarbons to innovation. The new digital and AI agreements are crucial for the U.S. to secure a resilient AI ecosystem, while for Kazakhstan, they represent a shift towards technology-driven growth and participation in the global digital economy.

The message from the summit indicates that future U.S.-Central Asia cooperation will be characterized by digital infrastructure and AI systems, reflecting a broader strategic vision for 21st-century international collaboration.