Freedom Holding Corp. to Build $2B Sovereign AI Hub in Kazakhstan
Freedom Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: FRHC) has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan to develop a $2 billion Sovereign AI Hub. The hub will be operated by Freedom Holding and powered by sovereign exascale NVIDIA AI infrastructure. The goal: accelerate Kazakhstan's and Central Asia's position in AI with local compute, talent, and policy support.
The Ministry will create favorable conditions for hosting and operating large-scale AI systems and lead talent development programs. The planned site in Kazakhstan has 100 MW of available power. Freedom Holding will serve as the principal financing and implementation partner.
"We are building the foundation of a sovereign AI ecosystem that will strengthen our economy, enhance competitiveness, and unlock new opportunities for the entire region," said Zhaslan Madiyev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development.
Freedom Holding CEO Timur Turlov said the company aims to combine its expertise with NVIDIA's technologies and the Ministry's support to build a foundation for AI innovation and drive long-term growth across Central Asia.
Why this matters for finance professionals
- Compute as an asset: Exascale infrastructure can create new revenue lines-GPU leasing, AI training/inference services, sovereign cloud offerings, and enterprise AI solutions.
- Capital structure watch: A $2B build points to a multi-year capex plan. Expect a mix of project finance, debt/equity, and potential incentives. Monitor cost of capital and any government support mechanisms.
- Supply chain execution: Delivery timelines hinge on NVIDIA hardware allocation and data center buildout schedules. Delays here ripple into revenue ramp.
- Energy economics: A 100 MW site makes power pricing, PUE, and cooling strategy central to margins. Clarity on long-term power contracts and energy mix will matter.
- Policy tailwinds: Ministry backing can streamline permits and data localization requirements, lowering operational friction for AI workloads.
- Regional demand: First-mover positioning in Central Asia could attract cross-border enterprise and public sector workloads seeking local compute and data residency.
What to track next
- Procurement milestones for NVIDIA systems and confirmed delivery schedules.
- Final site selection details, grid interconnect approvals, and power agreements.
- Financing terms, including any guarantees, covenants, or incentive packages.
- Partnerships with hyperscalers, telecoms, or major enterprise clients.
- Pricing trends for high-end GPU compute in EMEA/Central Asia and utilization targets.
Strategic context
This move extends Freedom Holding's footprint from financial services into AI infrastructure, pairing capital markets expertise with high-demand compute. With government support and NVIDIA systems, the hub can serve banks, telecoms, energy, logistics, and public services that need local AI capacity.
For corporates, proximity to exascale compute reduces latency and data transfer costs while easing compliance. For investors, the key question is execution: build speed, utilization ramp, and unit economics against the capital outlay.
For background on NVIDIA's data center and AI systems, see NVIDIA Data Center.
About Freedom Holding Corp.
Freedom Holding Corp. provides financial services in 21 countries, including Kazakhstan, the United States, Cyprus, Poland, Spain, Uzbekistan, and Armenia. The company's principal executive office is in New York City. In Kazakhstan, its ecosystem includes Freedom Bank, Freedom Broker, Freedom Life, Freedom Insurance, and lifestyle brands such as Arbuz.kz, Freedom Ticketon, and Aviata.
FRHC shares trade on NASDAQ, the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), and the Astana International Exchange (AIX). Freedom Holding Corp. is regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is a member of the Russell 3000 Index.
Practical next steps
- Review future FRHC disclosures for capex cadence, segment reporting on AI infrastructure, and utilization targets.
- For corporate finance teams in the region: map workloads that benefit from local AI compute and plan talent upskilling as the Ministry's programs come online.
- Build risk scenarios around hardware delivery, construction timelines, power pricing, and policy continuity.
If you're mapping AI use cases and tooling for finance teams, this resource may help: AI tools for finance.
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