Construction of 5 billion dollar data center valley continues in Ekibastuz

Construction of the first facility of the Data Center Valley, a large-scale project focused on artificial intelligence, is continuing in Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan. The project, with an estimated investment of about 5 billion dollars, will be a site for large data centers that will power modern AI systems. The first phase, still under construction, has all of its 215 megawatts of capacity already reserved, and the cluster is planned to be expanded to one gigawatt.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development Zhaslan Madiyev said AI is becoming a key factor in economic growth and technological competitiveness. He said that this requires computing power, reliable energy and modern data centers. The project's key advantage is electricity cost: a tariff from 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour has been announced near Ekibastuz GRES-1. NVIDIA and Firebird AI are among the partners.

Kazakhstan's IT exports grew 30-fold over the past five years and exceeded one billion dollars. NVIDIA head Jensen Huang is expected to visit Kazakhstan on October 23, a visit that will serve as the final highlight of AI Month.