Jensen Huang in Astana: Kazakhstan Proposes a Regional NVIDIA Physical AI Hub
On 23 October 2026, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang visited Astana. At the alem.ai International Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Kazakhstan's Minister of Science and Higher Education, Sayasat Nurbek, used the visit to propose a regional NVIDIA hub for physical AI, built on the country's universities.
For international students, the visit shows where Kazakhstan's universities are putting their effort: artificial intelligence, robotics and the engineering that connects the two.
A Physical AI Hub for Central Asia at QAIRU
At Qazaq AI Research University (QAIRU), the minister presented Kazakhstan's AI potential and a set of proposals to widen cooperation with NVIDIA. The central one is a regional NVIDIA Physical AI Hub for Central Asia, based at QAIRU. Physical AI is AI that drives machines, vehicles and industrial systems rather than only producing text and images. The hub would work on:
- physical AI and robotics
- digital twins and simulation modelling
- industrial artificial intelligence
The ministry's presentation to NVIDIA goes further: an NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute (DLI) centre in every region of Kazakhstan, all linked to the QAIRU hub in Astana, with simulation testbeds for mining, energy and logistics, and academic credits that transfer between universities.
What is already in place
- NVIDIA DLI training has reached 12 universities, with 160 students trained and 5 certified instructors.
- 21 universities and branch campuses run AI programmes, including Nazarbayev University, Astana IT University, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Satbayev University, and the Kazakhstan campuses of Cardiff, Coventry and Heriot-Watt.
- The national AI-Sana programme has trained 706,023 people in basic AI skills, and 515 AI projects have been developed through it.
- Alem.Cloud, a supercomputer built on NVIDIA H200 chips, is ranked 104th in the TOP500 list.
Students win at HackAlem AI
Huang also attended the awards ceremony of HackAlem AI, an international hackathon. Minister Nurbek presented the prize in the Education track to Yan Kurmanbayev, the author of GhostTech, a platform that connects entrepreneurs who have specific business problems with students ready to put their knowledge to work.
- 6,586 applications, around 5,000 of them from students
- 2,500 participants, including 1,600 students
- 36 winning teams across 12 tracks, with 49 students from 13 Kazakhstani universities among them
Kazakh LLM and NVIDIA's investment in Higgsfield AI
During the visit, Huang spoke positively about Kazakh LLM, the country's own large language model, which lets Kazakhstan collect, process and use national data to build its own artificial intelligence. He also pointed to Kazakhstan's potential to turn its energy resources into intelligent technology.
NVIDIA has also invested in Higgsfield AI, a Kazakhstani AI start-up described as the country's first AI unicorn, with around 600 people on its team in Kazakhstan. Huang said the founding team and the project's global potential weighed heavily in the decision.
What this means if you are applying
If you are planning to study computer science, data science, robotics or engineering, Kazakhstan's universities are building their teaching around the same tools and training that industry uses, and the government is lobbying for more of it. You can compare universities in Kazakhstan, browse programmes, or start your application.
Sources: Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Physical AI Hub, HackAlem AI) and its presentation “Kazakhstan: Academic & Technological Physical AI Bridgehead”; Kazinform.
