BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 2. Kazakhstan is
taking a systematic approach to AI development, working
simultaneously across all layers of the AI economy, Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital
Development Zhaslan Madiyev said at the AI & Digital Bridge 2026
forum in Astana.


According to Madiyev, Kazakhstan is currently implementing a
number of large-scale projects related to digital infrastructure,
including the Data Center Valley, fiber-optic networks, AI and
digital platforms, and cloud solutions.


“But it’s important to understand that currently we are at the
very beginning of the development of AI technology, and according
to various estimations, the total addressable market for artificial
intelligence exceeds $50 trillion right now,” Madiyev said.


He said that at the initial stage of AI development, Kazakhstan
considers it important to develop the full AI economy stack,
covering five main layers: energy infrastructure, chipsets, access
to cloud platforms, large language models (LLMs), including local
and sovereign models, and the application layer.


“So it’s important to move forward with all the layers, because
right now we don’t see where the highest value added and margins
will be among all those five layers. That’s why Kazakhstan has
chosen to move forward with all five layers, so that Kazakhstan
does not miss out in the future when AI becomes a normal part of
business activities,” he said.


Madiyev stressed that Kazakhstan’s approach to digital and AI
sovereignty does not mean developing all components
independently.


“It’s important to collaborate with other countries, with the
big tech companies from all over the world, and be diversified in
that sense,” he said.







In particular, Kazakhstan is not currently a producer of chips,
Madiyev noted, adding that the country needs to maintain relations
with both Western and Eastern markets to ensure access to critical
technologies, as well as maintain cooperation with regulators and
agencies responsible for export controls.


At the same time, Kazakhstan needs to develop its own
capabilities in areas such as large language models and cloud
solutions, including the incorporation of Kazakh content and
cultural context into AI models, according to Madiyev.


“You need to have your Kazakh content, the cultural context, in
those models in order to know how to train, how to fine-tune those
models, to build up the competence,” he said.


Madiyev said capacity-building programs would be needed to
develop these competencies and support the transition toward the
application layer of the AI economy.


“Because we believe that the application layer is the thing that
Kazakhstan can take the highest benefit of and scale throughout the
economy and people’s daily lives,” he said.