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The Promise and Pitfalls of Nvidia’s Venture in Kazakhstan

CEO Jensen Huang received a warm welcome in a country whose aims for AI may exceed its capabilities.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang shows off his new traditional Kazakh chapan.

Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang had an unmistakable air of confidence about him on October 23 as he took to the stage in Astana, Kazakhstan, before an eager audience of business executives, tech workers, political figures, and journalists. 

In a nearly hour-long fireside chat with Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Zhaslan Madiyev, Huang waxed effusive about the “incredibly visionary” President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, praising his foresight in declaring AI development to be a “national priority.” 

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Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang had an unmistakable air of confidence about him on October 23 as he took to the stage in Astana, Kazakhstan, before an eager audience of business executives, tech workers, political figures, and journalists. 

In a nearly hour-long fireside chat with Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Zhaslan Madiyev, Huang waxed effusive about the “incredibly visionary” President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, praising his foresight in declaring AI development to be a “national priority.” 

After Madiyev announced that Nvidia had invested an undisclosed sum in Higgsfield, an AI video-generation company that became Kazakhstan’s first unicorn in September 2025, Huang also heaped praise on the startup and its founders.

But above all, the microchip engineer-turned-billionaire executive was most bullish in describing the upward trajectory of the global AI industry and Kazakhstan’s potential to position itself at its center.

“Kazakhstan has a fundamental advantage because you have so many natural resources already. Instead of just exporting energy in the future, you could transform this energy into intelligence and export intelligence,” Huang said. “You’re going to be a hub, a computing hub, an AI factory hub for all of Europe.” 

On one level, Huang’s visit to Kazakhstan was just the latest stop on the barnstorming world tour the Nvidia boss first began in 2024 to sell the idea of “sovereign AI” to national leaders and statesmen.

But at another, it marked a meeting of minds and ambitions. The venerable chipmaker seeking to extend the global reach of its technology by powering next-generation data centers meets a resource-rich country hoping to turn its energy........

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