Ekibastuz, 19 October. The 215 MW of the first phase of Data Center Valley in Ekibastuz have been fully reserved, and the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development has put the expected investment in the project at about $5 billion, although in June the government spoke of agreements with Firebird and NVIDIA worth $10 billion (Kursiv, Kazinform).
The ministry released the new figures after a trip to Ekibastuz by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development Zhaslan Madiyev and Kazakhtelecom chief executive Bagdat Mussin, who inspected the construction site and discussed power supply, engineering infrastructure and the work schedule (Kursiv).
Under the plan, the first 50 MW of one of the three data centres under construction, with a total capacity of 66 MW, will start operating in the second quarter of 2027 and the rest in the third; at the same time a 164 MW centre of the American company Firebird AI is due to open, followed by another 70 MW centre in the fourth quarter of 2027. The project's total capacity is to be raised to 1 GW; according to the ministry, investors are attracted by low electricity tariffs and environmentally friendly cooling systems (Kursiv, Kazinform).
The ministry did not explain why the estimate is half the June figure; Kursiv suggests the two statements may refer to different indicators (Kursiv, nb_kz).
Background: A data centre is a building with servers where data is stored and processed and artificial intelligence models are trained; such centres consume a lot of electricity, and in Ekibastuz, according to the ministry, investors are attracted by its low price (Kazinform).
List of sources used: Kursiv, Kazinform, nb_kz
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
