Neo-colonialism and AI: Jensen Huang visits Kazakhstan
I live in Kazakhstan and I’ve seen multiple local reports on Jensen Huang’s visit to Astana. Basically, NVIDIA is giving us chips, and we are providing very cheap energy that runs on coal. Resource extraction and exploitation, where have I seen this before?
>Huang said Kazakhstan could turn its energy resources into a foundation for AI production — and a new kind of export. “Instead of just exporting energy, in the future, you could transform energy into intelligence and export intelligence,” he said.
This is an excerpt from *The Diplomat* explaining the deal between NVIDIA and Kazakhstan:
>Kazakhstan took another major step in its large-scale AI push, [signing](https://primeminister.kz/en/news/data-center-valley-kazakhstan-government-firebird-and-nvidia-sign-10-billion-package-of-agreements-in-artificial-intelligence-31516) a $10 billion package of agreements with Firebird and NVIDIA to build the Data Center Valley in Ekibastuz, including a planned cluster of 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs. The deal forms part of a broader strategy that began in 2025 with the creation of a dedicated [Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development](https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/maidd?lang=en), followed by the declaration of 2026 as the “[Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence](https://primeminister.kz/en/news/year-of-digitalization-and-artificial-intelligence-in-kazakhstan-the-government-has-identified-a-key-priority-the-introduction-of-technologies-across-all-sectors-of-the-economy-30934),” the passage of Central Asia’s first comprehensive [AI law](https://www.ey.com/en_kz/technical/tax-alerts/2025/12/law-on-artificial-intelligence-kazakhstan), and the rollout of large-scale training programs and a [National AI Platform](https://publicadministration.desa.un.org/blog/kazakhstans-digital-evolution-egov-ai-governance).
It‘s worth nothing that this is happening amidst [escalating attacks against journalists and activists](https://iphronline.org/articles/kazakhstan-constitutional-reform-accompanied-by-escalating-crackdown-on-critics-media-and-online-expression/), anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and literally a whole [new constitution](https://astanatimes.com/2026/07/kazakhstans-new-constitution-takes-effect-heres-what-changes/). But Jensen Huang is optimistic about the future of Kazakhstan and thinks this enormous data center will inspire young people!
>“You are inspiring young people, students, universities, scientists, and industry representatives to actively participate in the development of the artificial intelligence industry and AI economy. This is what will create demand,” he said.