Today, Jensen Huang, founder and Chief Executive Officer of NVIDIA, visited the alem.ai International Artificial Intelligence Centre in Astana for the first time. During the visit, he was presented with Kazakhstan’s strategy for establishing a global Physical AI hub, built on three key pillars: a favourable institutional environment, state-of-the-art infrastructure, and human capital development, El.kz reports, citing the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Jensen Huang Explores alem.ai’s Innovations
During his visit, Jensen Huang toured the Museum of Singularity, which showcases the history and evolution of artificial intelligence, from its earliest concepts to modern neural networks and generative AI, as well as the technology’s implications for the future of humanity.
A highlight of the tour was NVIDIA’s founder signing a museum exhibit featuring the 1998 NVIDIA RIVA TNT graphics card, symbolising one of the early milestones in the company’s development of graphics technology. The signed item will become part of the museum’s permanent collection.
Jensen Huang also visited AI Cinema, the world’s first cinema dedicated to screening content created using artificial intelligence.
“The most valuable asset of any country is the culture and intellect of its people. Kazakhstani developers, entrepreneurs and students now have a rare opportunity to build their own AI capabilities. With such ambition and a strong scientific and engineering foundation, Kazakhstan is well positioned to launch new startups, transform entire industries and open up new horizons for the younger generation,” said Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of NVIDIA.
During the visit, Huang was also shown the Self-Service Center, a next-generation service environment where users can independently access public, business and other services.
A key component of the centre is alem.gpt, an intelligent conversational assistant that enables users to access services through natural language. The solution is powered by AI models running on Alem.Cloud GPU clusters equipped with NVIDIA H200 graphics processing units.
The demonstration also showcased the capabilities of eGov Mobile, including digital documents and the eGov QR service, as well as the integration of government and banking systems, illustrated by the digital mortgage application process.
“Today, artificial intelligence is transforming not only technology but also the balance of power in the global economy. Kazakhstan intends to take its place among the countries shaping the future of this industry. Our competitive advantage lies in the combination of energy potential, a developed industrial base, and a growing pool of talented engineers and developers. Together with technology leaders such as NVIDIA, we see an opportunity to establish Kazakhstan as a global hub for Physical AI, where intelligent systems and robotics can be developed, tested and deployed in real-world industrial environments. Our ambition is not simply to develop AI infrastructure, but to create technologies and companies capable of competing in global markets,” said Zhaslan Madiyev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Jensen Huang’s visit opens up new prospects for the development of Kazakhstan’s AI ecosystem and its integration into the global technology industry. Particular importance is attached to creating the conditions for developing world-class technologies domestically and expanding international opportunities for Kazakhstani professionals and companies.
NVIDIA CEO Meets Kazakhstani Startups
As part of Jensen Huang’s visit, Magzhan Madiyev, CEO of Astana Hub, presented Startup City, a digital city for startups built around peer-to-peer (P2P) interaction and gamification.
The platform brings together regional hubs, educational programmes, laboratories, venture financing and international platforms, helping startups progress from initial ideas to global markets.
Through an interactive gaming format, participants can earn virtual coins and use them within the ecosystem, while digital twins represent Astana Hub’s actual infrastructure. Particular attention was also given to opportunities for expanding cooperation between Kazakhstan and NVIDIA.
“Jensen Huang’s visit to alem.ai is an opportunity to open up new prospects for Kazakhstani technology companies. This is particularly relevant to Physical AI — technologies that bring together artificial intelligence, robotics, industry and infrastructure. Kazakhstani startups are already developing solutions in robotics, autonomous control and intelligent systems. We therefore aim to create an environment in which these teams can access infrastructure, expertise and international partners to advance their technologies and bring them to global markets,” said Magzhan Madiyev, CEO of Astana Hub.
Particular attention during the visit was devoted to Kazakhstani technology startups.
Jensen Huang was introduced to the following companies and their technologies:
ARC Aero is a technology company specialising in the design and manufacture of its own aircraft, as well as the development of integrated hardware and software solutions for autonomous flight control and real-time operational coordination.
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QazTWIN is a Kazakhstani technology platform for intelligent digital twins serving industry, construction and urban infrastructure. It incorporates robotic crawlers manufactured by Astana Dynamics to inspect hard-to-reach, confined and potentially hazardous areas, improving diagnostic accuracy, inspection safety and the operational efficiency of engineering systems.
DeepInfra is a technology company providing cloud infrastructure for AI model inference, including large language models (LLMs), generative image and audio models, and multimodal solutions.
MiraiTech is a technology company specialising in intelligent wearable devices and AI-powered solutions for analysing human movement biomechanics. Its core product for athletes is designed to monitor physical activity, assess performance metrics and optimise athletic performance.
Blockchair is a technology company specialising in blockchain analytics and tools for searching, monitoring and analysing transactions across various public blockchain networks.
The projects showcased the potential of Kazakhstani technology teams to advance robotics, autonomous systems and AI infrastructure.
Jensen Huang Presented with the Data Center Valley Project
As part of the visit, Huang was also briefed on Data Center Valley, a large-scale data centre cluster being developed in Ekibastuz.
The project envisages the phased development of infrastructure with a total power capacity of up to 1 GW, with the full capacity of the first phase, amounting to 215 MW, already reserved.
Data Center Valley is intended to become an international hub for high-performance computing and artificial intelligence, attract billions of dollars in investment, and create the conditions for hosting infrastructure operated by leading global technology companies, including NVIDIA partners and Firebird AI.
Meetings with Students and AI Hackathon Winners
Jensen Huang also met students at TUMO Astana, a creative technology centre where teenagers can develop digital skills free of charge, learn programming and explore creative disciplines through self-directed learning, practical workshops and project-based laboratories led by industry experts.
Huang subsequently met the winners of HackAlem AI, described as the world’s largest AI hackathon. Held with the support of NVIDIA and OpenAI, the event set a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ record for the number of participants in an AI hackathon. Huang posed for a commemorative photograph with the winners.
The next stage of the programme involved an introduction to students at Tomorrow School, a free programming and artificial intelligence school based on hands-on, practice-oriented learning.
Huang was presented with the school’s educational model, under which students acquire programming and AI skills by working on real-world projects.
The meeting was also attended by Sayasat Nurbek, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Jensen Huang learned about the activities of Qazaq AI Research University (QAIRU) and its initiatives to train specialists in artificial intelligence.
Meeting with Higgsfield Founders and Urban Digital Twins
During his visit, Jensen Huang met with the founders of Higgsfield, Kazakhstan’s first unicorn and an NVIDIA technology partner in generative video, with an audience of 40 million unique users.
The platform uses NVIDIA computing technologies to train its proprietary Soul models and develop its agentic product, Supercomputer 2.0. The parties discussed the prospects for generative video and the development of Kazakhstan’s technology ecosystem.
Huang was also introduced to the AI-Driven Government initiative, which focuses on the application of artificial intelligence in public administration.
The presentation demonstrated the capabilities of an analytics platform for the energy sector, space industry, financial sector and smart cities. It also showcased AI models for macroeconomic forecasting, financial and economic modelling, risk assessment and data-driven decision-making.
Freedom presented City-Scale Physical AI, a project to develop digital twins of Almaty and Astana for training and testing autonomous robots in real-world urban environments.
The project will be built on NVIDIA’s Physical AI technologies, which are designed to accelerate the development and deployment of autonomous robotic systems.
The Future of Artificial Intelligence and Kazakhstan’s Role
A key event of the visit will be an exclusive fireside chat between Jensen Huang and Zhaslan Madiyev.
The discussion will focus on the future of artificial intelligence and Kazakhstan’s role in the global AI economy, ranging from energy development and computing infrastructure to sovereign AI and Physical AI — technologies that enable machines to interact with the physical world.
Participants will discuss how AI is transforming industry, labour markets and education; the opportunities it creates for the economy and society; and how to prepare the next generation for technological change.
Particular attention will be given to the development of Kazakhstan’s AI ecosystem, talent development and the creation of world-class technologies.
As part of the Year of Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, Jensen Huang’s visit to alem.ai underscored Kazakhstan’s ambition to establish a significant presence in the global AI economy.
The combination of institutional support, computing infrastructure and human capital provides a foundation for positioning the country as an international hub for Physical AI — a platform where advanced technologies can not only be developed, but also tested and deployed in practical industrial applications.
Jensen Huang’s visit marked the conclusion of AI Month, a series of events dedicated to advancing artificial intelligence in Kazakhstan and supported by Astana Hub, with NVIDIA serving as the general partner.
The programme began on September,23 with the international HackAlem AI hackathon, which set a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ record for the number of participants in an AI hackathon.
