At the panel session “The Data Center Rush: Powering Kazakhstan’s AI Ambitions” at GITEX Central Asia in Almaty, participants concluded that data center development in Kazakhstan is constrained not by a lack of demand but by limited energy resources.
Demand exists — the question is capacity
Adil Bilyalov, Chief Operating Officer of Akashi Data Center PLC, stressed that the market has entered a new phase. AI projects require significantly higher power density than traditional IT workloads.
“We see it in practice: Akashi’s first module is reserved at 103%, and the next wave of demand is coming in dozens of megawatts. But the key question is not demand — it’s whether the energy system is ready to absorb it,” he noted.
Kazakhstan as a potential hub
Alexander Perepelov, CTO of QazCloud, agreed that Kazakhstan is being considered as a promising location. However, he emphasized that strong demand is not sufficient to form a hub without comprehensive work on developing networks and infrastructure.
In his assessment, there are almost no data centers in the country capable of delivering around 100 kW per rack.
Security and sustainable energy
Catalina Niculita from Cisco stressed the need to develop alternative energy sources and rethink infrastructure security approaches as AI workloads grow.
The race for speed
“A window of opportunity is forming today for countries that can quickly offer the necessary infrastructure and capacity. Kazakhstan has all the prerequisites — provided energy and digital infrastructure develop in sync,” Bilyalov concluded.
Source: ER10