A look at Central Asia's emerging data center race, led by Uzbekistan's 6MW TAS-1 due by year-end and Kazakhstan's 125MW facility with 100K Nvidia chips by 2027
Context & Ripple Effects
Kazakhstan’s proposed facility builds on its earlier Firebird computing accords, which were presented as part of a broader Data Center Valley ambition. Uzbekistan’s nearer-term TAS-1 project gives the regional buildout an additional, smaller operational milestone.
The developments sit within a wider Asian capacity expansion: APAC colocation growth forecasts tied to AI-service demand and large projects elsewhere in the region show that compute infrastructure investment is broadening beyond established hubs.
First-order effects
- Uzbekistan gains a defined near-term data-center delivery target with TAS-1, while Kazakhstan raises the scale of its stated compute ambitions through a 125MW, Nvidia-equipped facility planned for 2027.
- Kazakhstan’s previously announced Nvidia-related project pipeline now has a more concrete capacity and chip target against which execution can be assessed.
Second-order effects
- The two projects sharpen competition among Central Asian locations to turn announced compute ambitions into powered, deployable capacity, rather than simply securing investment accords.
- Their progress will test whether a smaller regional build can translate AI-driven colocation demand into operating facilities, alongside the much larger capacity additions tracked elsewhere in Asia.
Third-order effects
- If projects of this kind are delivered, Central Asia could become a more consequential secondary location in Asia’s AI-infrastructure map, with differentiation determined by delivered power and hardware rather than announcements.
- The widening geography of data-center investment also makes execution risk more central: announced capacity increasingly spans markets with very different buildout track records and project scales.
The trend: AI-compute investment is spreading into new Asian geographies, but durable advantage will accrue to markets that convert power, capital, and accelerator plans into running capacity.