After unveiling in April 2026 a plan to deliver one of the most ambitious digital transformation programmes in Central Asia, where artificial intelligence (AI), aerospace and infrastructure will underpin daily life for 20 million people, the government of Kazakhstan has revealed it is working with AI hardware leader Nvidia to seek opportunities to apply advanced AI in industry, energy, transport and robotics.
The Kazakhstan government’s digital transformation has been 10 years in the making, and aims to take advantage of the country’s vast natural resources and its strategic geographic position between Russia and China to create a land where critical infrastructure encompasses data networks and connectivity lines in addition to oil pipelines.
The country’s digital government is driven by work at Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development, where minister of the department and the country’s deputy prime minister Zhaslan Madiyev is leading the country’s high-tech transitions and digital ambitions. Kazakh law regards digital documents as the equivalent of physical documents, covering the likes of travel, trains, flights, public government services and banking services.
Explaining the state of transformation in April 2026, Madiyev revealed that at the beginning of that month, more than 90% of government public services were available online – 1,300 in total – with almost 40 official documents available in digital format.
“Through the bank application, you can register a client and sell a car in a matter of three to five minutes, without going to any windows outside,” Madiyev noted at the time. “You just register and sell the car online through a [digital] application. You can [do the same] to apply for a mortgage approval. Through a smart bridge platform … the private sector can get access to all public services and databases.”
Creating a cashless economy is another key objective. In April 2026, 90% of transactions in Kazakhstan were cashless, and the Central Bank of Kazakhstan became one of the first central banks in the world to not only pilot a national digital currency, but also to optimise blockchain programming. Kazakhstan was also one of the first countries in the region to adopt a comprehensive law on artificial intelligence.
As it progresses, Kazakhstan has been pursuing a national digital strategy based on three constituent parts: an institutional framework, new infrastructure and data, and advances in human capital. The institutional framework takes the form of an AI development council under the chairmanship of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, president of the Republic of Kazakhstan, along with 17 members of a global technology community.
Future AI activities include developing Kazakhstan into a global centre for physical AI, using this next generation of artificial intelligence to bring together robotics, autonomous systems and industrial automation.
The collaboration with Nvidia is seen as a potentially providing a huge spur to the programme. Visiting alem.ai, the International Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Astana, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang described Kazakhstan as the first country that he had visited where a president has declared AI development a national priority.
At the AI hub, Huang was briefed on the national AI strategy and the country’s sovereign compute infrastructure, and discussed with Madiyev where the global AI industry is heading and why energy and compute have become strategic resources. They also covered the rise of physical AI and how a country of 20 million people could produce technology companies that compete worldwide.
The only thing that matters is whether you have ambition. If you do, artificial intelligence and robotics will help you reach a new level and expand what you can do. If you are a scientist, an AI assistant will let you explore far more Jensen Huang, Nvidia
“Artificial intelligence will help your country rise to a new level, empower people, and enable companies to compete and scale in the global market. AI will transform your society. If you have aspirations and ambitions, you need leadership that helps shape them. That is exactly the ambitious goal President Tokayev has set: to make Kazakhstan an AI nation,” Juang remarked.
“Every company I met today wants to be successful, global and international, and artificial intelligence will help turn those ambitions into reality. The only thing that matters is whether you have ambition. If you do, artificial intelligence and robotics will help you reach a new level and expand what you can do. If you are a scientist, an AI assistant will let you explore far more. If you are an engineer, AI tools will help you find better technical solutions,” he continued.
Madiyev added: “Kazakhstan has set itself an ambitious goal: to become one of the world’s centres for physical AI. We are building the conditions step by step: expanding our compute infrastructure, investing in talent and creating an environment where technology companies can thrive. Our collaboration with Nvidia opens opportunities to apply advanced AI in industry, energy, transport and robotics. Our ambition is not only to adopt existing solutions, but to create our own technologies that compete on the global market.”
During the visit, the Kazakhstan government stressed that it had “an unusual combination” of strengths for the field of physical AI which it said was becoming one of the defining frontiers of artificial intelligence to power autonomous robots, smart factories, self-driving systems and industrial digital twins.
Indeed, four particular areas of strength were cited: the country is one of the world’s major energy producers, the largest producer of uranium and also with large wind and solar potential; the mining, metallurgy, oil and gas, and logistics sectors are real-world environments where intelligent systems can be trained, tested and deployed; its strategic geographic location on the Trans-Caspian “Middle Corridor,” makes it “a natural testbed” for autonomous logistics; and it has enough critical mineral reserves to supply the global robotics and electronics value chain.
The result, said the government, was that Kazakhstan could offer an international platform for developing, training and testing industrial AI in real operating conditions. That is, global technology companies would get access to real industrial use cases and test sites, and Kazakhstan would get faster industrial modernisation, higher productivity and safer workplaces.
Moreover, as demand for AI grows and access to energy, high-performance computing and datacentres has become strategically important worldwide, it said Kazakhstan was able to become a supplier of these resources. Yet the Kazakhstan government was adamant that the country would be a place where AI is built, not just hosted.
Planned collaboration with Nvidia includes education initiatives with alem.ai; Astana Hub, a tech cluster regarded officially as the heart of the country’s technology ecosystem located in the next block from Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development; Qairu, said to be the first AI-enabled university in Central Asia; and Kazakhstan’s other leading technical universities. One option under discussion is a regional Nvidia Deep Learning Institute (DLI) centre at Qairu. Representatives of 12 technical universities have already taken part in a DLI pilot programme.
“Jensen Huang’s visit to Astana and alem.ai opens up new opportunities for Kazakhstan’s tech companies. This is particularly relevant to physical AI technologies that bring together artificial intelligence, robotics, industry and infrastructure,” remarked Astana Hub CEO Magzhan Madiyev.
“Startups in Kazakhstan are already developing solutions in robotics, autonomous control and intelligent systems. Our goal is to create an environment where these teams have access to infrastructure, expertise and international partners, enabling them to advance their technologies and bring them to global markets.”
