Nvidia CEO sees Kazakhstan as potential AI hub for Europe
During his first visit to Kazakhstan, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the country's growing computing capacity could make it a major AI hub for Europe, as Kazakhstan expands its energy and digital infrastructure.
Nvidia's founder and chief executive, Jensen Huang, visited Kazakhstan for the first time and declared the Central Asian nation could become a significant AI computing hub for Europe. During a conversation with Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development, Zhaslan Madiyev, Huang highlighted the country's abundant natural resources and growing computing capacity as potential advantages.
Huang suggested that Kazakhstan could convert its energy into intelligence and export intelligence rather than just energy.
Madiyev stated that Kazakhstan plans to nearly double its installed power capacity to over 40 gigawatts by 2035. The country is also developing Data Center Valley, an AI computing campus in Ekibastuz, with the first phase expected to start operations in 2027 and eventually scale up to one gigawatt. Huang predicted Kazakhstan would become a computing hub and an AI factory for Europe.
Huang emphasized the country's natural resources, such as energy, as a competitive advantage in the AI economy. He argued that Kazakhstan could transform energy into intelligence and export intelligence, adding that it would create a domestic foundation model as a national security concern.
Besides computing infrastructure and sovereign AI, Kazakhstan is also targeting the emerging field of Physical AI, systems that can interact with and operate in the physical world. Huang called the idea "fantastic" and suggested that industries such as mining, agriculture, transport, and logistics could be among the first to benefit from Physical AI. Huang encouraged Kazakhstan to become a hub for developing and training Physical AI models and robots.
Nvidia has also invested in Higgsfield AI, a Kazakh-founded generative video startup, praising the founders as visionary. Huang emphasized that the decision to invest in the company was based on the founders' capabilities and potential to compete with leading AI companies globally.
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