Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — On the sidelines of the AI & Digital Bridge 2026 forum in Astana, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Zhaslan Madiyev signed a memorandum on strategic cooperation with several international organizations and companies, including the Astana International Financial Centre, Kazakhtelecom, Balaji Srinivasan’s Network School and Shervin Pishevar’s Sofreh Capital.
The central project of the partnership is Digital Silk Road, an integrated platform designed to bring together data centers, satellite infrastructure, fiber-optic networks and venture capital. The ambition is to create a holding company with a capitalization of more than US$100 billion.
Who signed the agreement and what it means
Shervin Pishevar is one of Silicon Valley’s best-known venture capital investors. His portfolio includes early investments in Uber, Airbnb, Slack, Instacart and DoorDash. Balaji Srinivasan is the former chief technology officer of Coinbase, an advocate of the “network state” concept and founder of Network School, an educational project bringing together engineers and entrepreneurs from around the world. Both are already physically present in Kazakhstan: more than 240 members of Srinivasan’s team and international technology community arrived in the country with him.
This is not the first visit by Western technology investors to Central Asia, but the scale of the commitments announced distinguishes the partnership from previous memorandums of understanding.
Pishevar announced plans to relocate offices to Kazakhstan and personally invest in the country’s development. Srinivasan said he plans to attract 10,000 entrepreneurs.
“Kazakhstan has everything it needs to become one of the leaders of the artificial intelligence era: world-class human capital, highly educated professionals, rich natural resources, as well as the leadership, ambition and culture needed to create projects of global scale,” said Shervin Pishevar, founder of Sofreh Capital.
Infrastructure logic: why Kazakhstan
Behind the rhetoric about a “technology power” lies a specific economic rationale. Kazakhstan has several competitive advantages that make it attractive specifically for AI infrastructure.
Energy. Data centers and AI computing capacity consume enormous amounts of electricity. Kazakhstan has significant reserves of coal and gas, as well as renewable energy sources, and is also discussing the construction of small modular nuclear reactors. Cheap and accessible energy is a fundamental competitive advantage in the race for computing capacity.
Geographic location. Kazakhstan is physically located between Europe and Asia. The Trans-Caspian fiber-optic communication line — one of the key projects covered by the memorandum — is intended to create an alternative data transmission route bypassing both Russian and Chinese infrastructure. Amid the geopolitical fragmentation of the internet, this has strategic significance.
Critical materials. Kazakhstan is among the world’s largest producers of uranium, rare earth metals and other critical materials needed to manufacture semiconductors and batteries. Control over supply chains for the AI industry is becoming one of the decade’s major geopolitical assets.
Digital Silk Road: what exactly is being built
The project brings together several interconnected areas. The “Data Center Valley” is a cluster of computing facilities with a combined capacity of hundreds of megawatts, which Kazakhtelecom has already begun developing. The Trans-Caspian fiber-optic line is the physical backbone for data transmission between Asia and Europe.
Space infrastructure — including satellite production and launches from Kazakhstan — appears to be the most long-term and uncertain part of the project. The venture ecosystem includes a fund under the jurisdiction of the Astana International Financial Centre, the Edison venture studios and the Kazakh division of the Alpha platform for launching startups.
“We are creating a Data Center Valley and artificial intelligence infrastructure with a capacity of hundreds of megawatts. If all of this is combined into a single system, with large-scale venture investment and strong technological expertise, it could produce a completely new picture of the future.” — Bagdat Mussin, Chairman of the Management Board of Kazakhtelecom
The concept of “AI tokens,” promoted by Minister Madiyev, deserves particular attention. The idea is to convert the country’s energy resources into computing capacity, and computing capacity into exportable AI services. Essentially, this is a new model of resource exports: instead of oil and gas, “digital barrels” in the form of tokenized access to computing capacity.
A critical view: risks and open questions
The project’s ambition inevitably raises skepticism. Several questions remain unanswered.
Memorandum versus commitments. The signed document is a framework agreement expressing intentions, rather than a binding investment contract. Kazakhstan has a long history of signing similar memorandums, some of which never progressed beyond paper. The parties have committed to agreeing on a specific implementation plan within 100 days — and this document will have real significance.
US$100 billion capitalization. The figure cited by Minister Madiyev appears more like a political benchmark than a realistic financial projection.
For comparison, Kazakhstan’s entire economy has a GDP of around US$260 billion. Achieving such a valuation for a holding company would require not only infrastructure investment but also the creation of commercially successful products for the global market — a task that many much more resource-rich players have failed to accomplish.
Talent challenge. Attracting 10,000 entrepreneurs is a high-profile announcement. However, the long-term retention of international technology talent in Kazakhstan will depend not only on venture studios but also on the quality of the urban environment, legal predictability and real success stories.
Geopolitical sensitivity. An active partnership with US venture capital structures and the construction of telecommunications infrastructure designed as an alternative to Russian and Chinese networks is a step that will inevitably be interpreted in Moscow and Beijing.
Kazakhstan has historically balanced between major powers, and Digital Silk Road will test the resilience of that balance.
Why this matters beyond Kazakhstan
Central Asia has long remained on the periphery of the global technology race. Digital Silk Road — if implemented even partially — could change this situation.
The Trans-Caspian fiber-optic line creates a new data transmission corridor that is an alternative to existing routes through Russia and China. This directly affects the interests of European and Asian companies seeking to diversify their infrastructure.
For the region as a whole, the success of Kazakhstan’s experiment could set a precedent.
“By bringing these areas together, we can create a Digital Silk Road through which Kazakhstan will supply computing capacity, technologies and intellectual products to global markets,” said Zhaslan Madiyev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of AI and Digital Development of Kazakhstan.
Conclusion: between forum rhetoric and systemic transformation
Digital Silk Road is more than another investment memorandum. Behind it lies a clear strategic rationale: to turn Kazakhstan’s energy and geographic advantages into competitiveness in the AI economy. The participation of figures such as Pishevar and Srinivasan gives the project international legitimacy and real connections to Silicon Valley venture capital.
At the same time, the gap between ambitions and implementation in projects of this kind is traditionally wide. Kazakhstan has already demonstrated an ability to build institutions, with the Astana International Financial Centre serving as an example.
The question is whether this time the country will be able to move from infrastructure investment to creating its own technology products that can compete in global markets. The answer will emerge long before the US$100 billion capitalization target is reached.
