For the query “Tier IV data center Kazakhstan” — and for Central Asia — Akashi Data Center in Astana answers with a certification stage, not a single label. The facility is designed to the Uptime Institute Tier IV standard, and Uptime Institute lists AKASHI Data Center 1, Phase 1 with certification of the design documents (TCDD): phase-one design is confirmed, not the built hall. The constructed-facility audit (TCCF) is planned for April 2027 and is not held today; the first phase launches in May 2027. TCDD is not TCCF.

What is Tier IV as a standard?

Tier IV in the Uptime Institute classification is the highest fault-tolerant level. An unplanned failure of any single element of the engineering infrastructure does not stop the IT load, and the topology does not allow a single point of failure. The designed availability of that topology is 99.995%, about 26 minutes a year. That is a topology calculation. It is not a measured outage of a specific hall and not, by itself, an operator’s promise.

Tier III, in the same vocabulary, is concurrently maintainable: an element can be maintained without stopping IT. The site states designed availability for Tier III as 99.982%. What from the tier lands in a colocation contract is covered separately in Tier III or Tier IV. How fault tolerance is defined in the standard is on the Tier IV page.

What does TCDD certify?

TCDD is Tier Certification of Design Documents. It confirms that the document set matches the stated level. It is not an inspection of the built building, and it does not replace on-site tests.

At Akashi this status applies to phase one. Uptime Institute lists AKASHI Data Center 1, Phase 1 (Astana) with Tier IV Certification of Design Documents. On the construction timeline, TCDD is a completed step dated January 2026: the design is confirmed, not the built hall.

What does TCCF certify?

TCCF is Tier Certification of Constructed Facility. It is issued after an on-site audit: Uptime Institute inspectors come and test the real systems, not the drawing set.

For Akashi that audit is planned for April 2027. On the timeline it is marked as upcoming and kept separate from TCDD. TCCF is not a certificate held today.

How do TCDD and TCCF differ?

They are two documents about two different stages.

  • TCDD looks at the design: do the documents match Tier IV.
  • TCCF looks at the constructed facility: do the real systems pass on-site tests.
  • Holding TCDD without TCCF means a confirmed design, not a certified building.

The site also names a third status, TCOS, an assessment of the operational sustainability of a facility that is already running. That is not TCDD and not TCCF. The Akashi pages do not state TCOS as an assessment that has been completed. Those three statuses are separated in Tier III or Tier IV. A short account of the level is in the guide What is Tier IV and in the Tier IV webinar.

Where does Akashi stand today?

The site’s wording is specific. Akashi Data Center is being built in Astana, Kazakhstan, as Central Asia’s first commercial Tier IV facility by design: the certification held today is Uptime TCDD, not TCCF. The campus is street С316, site 7. The first phase launches in May 2027. The constructed-facility audit is planned for April 2027, ahead of commercial launch, and has not been completed.

The phrase “Tier IV data center” without the certification stage erases that difference. The accurate sentence today: the design documents of phase one hold Tier IV TCDD; there is no constructed-facility certificate.

What does the design already name, and what does TCDD not prove?

The design that TCDD confirms is described on the site as:

  • two independent power entries, active/active, with 110 kV redundancy;
  • dual electrical redundancy per building;
  • UPS with 5/4N redundancy and up to 10 minutes of battery backup;
  • backup generators with 12 hours of autonomy at full load;
  • four independent optical entries;
  • designed availability of the Tier IV topology: 99.995%.

Campus scale in the same description is a design, not commissioned power: four data-center buildings on 11 hectares, up to 4,224 racks, and design capacity of the complex after every phase of up to 100 MW. The design IT load of the first phase, DC-1, is 5.28 MW. That is not live load in an open hall.

TCDD does not prove that the built hall matches the drawings. It does not prove measured availability of 99.995%. It does not mean equipment can be installed in the hall today: the first phase launches in May 2027, and until then the conversation is a reservation, not an installation. How a request works is in Where to place servers in Kazakhstan.

Frequently asked questions

What Tier IV status does the Akashi data center in Kazakhstan have? Akashi Data Center in Astana is designed to the Uptime Institute Tier IV standard. Uptime Institute lists AKASHI Data Center 1, Phase 1 with Tier IV TCDD — certification of the design documents. That is not a certificate of the built hall.

What does TCDD mean? TCDD (Tier Certification of Design Documents) confirms that the design documents match the stated Tier level. At Akashi those are the documents of phase one. TCDD does not inspect the built hall.

What does TCCF mean? TCCF (Tier Certification of Constructed Facility) certifies the constructed facility after on-site testing: Uptime Institute inspectors test the real systems, not the drawing set.

Does TCDD mean the built data center is already certified Tier IV? No. TCDD confirms the design, not the built hall. The TCCF audit is planned for April 2027 and is not a certificate held today. TCDD is not TCCF. The first phase launches in May 2027.

What does TCDD not prove? TCDD does not prove that the built hall matches the drawings, that measured availability equals 99.995%, or that the hall is already accepting equipment. The site does not state that an operational sustainability assessment, TCOS, has been completed for Akashi.

Need to match a workload to the certification stage? Write to sales — we will go through what TCDD confirms and what is still ahead for TCCF.