Kazakhstan’s Data Center Valley fully reserves its 215MW first phase: first 50MW site due in Q2 2027, investment now put at about $5 billion

All 215MW of first-phase capacity at Data Center Valley in Ekibastuz has been reserved, and the first 50MW data center is due online in the second quarter of 2027, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development said on October 19. The ministry also put total investment at around $5 billion, half the $10 billion the government cited in June.

The figures followed a site visit by Deputy Prime Minister and AI Minister Zhaslan Madiyev and Kazakhtelecom chairman Bagdat Mussin, who reviewed power supply, engineering infrastructure, site readiness and the construction schedule. NVIDIA and US-based Firebird AI are partners in the project, which is building GPU-based computing capacity for training and running AI models and is meant to scale to 1GW. The ministry's main selling point is power: electricity from 2.5 US cents per kWh.

Mussin said the first phase already has customers and firm investment commitments behind it. Neither the customers nor the contract values were disclosed.

Where the 215MW comes from

On the project's official website, 215MW is the capacity of an operating substation that anchors the first stage. The site describes that first stage as 50MW on 191.8 hectares, due in Q2 2027, with roughly 1,300 hectares held for expansion and later stages "to be determined." So the ministry's "215MW first phase" matches the substation, while the website's "50MW first stage" refers to the first building.

At an April 17 meeting chaired by the prime minister, the government said the 215MW substation had been acquired and a preferential power tariff model approved. Kazakhtelecom said then that it had held talks with more than 20 hyperscalers from the US, China and India, and that preliminary demand exceeded 100MW. Six months on, "over 100MW of preliminary demand" has become "215MW fully reserved."

$5 billion versus $10 billion

On June 15 the government, Firebird and NVIDIA signed a package the official release valued at $10 billion: a cluster of 100,000 of the newest GPUs, including NVIDIA GB300 and Vera Rubin, which Madiyev estimated would earn at least $3 billion a year in exports. The documents were a strategic cooperation agreement between the ministry and Firebird and a Binding Term Sheet between KT-Telecom LLP and Firebird. Neither is an investment contract.

The ministry's new figure is about $5 billion. Kursiv, a Kazakh business outlet, reported that the ministry did not explain the gap and that the two numbers may measure different things. Until there is an official explanation, the two figures should not be compared directly or read as a cut.

How it fits the delivery schedule

At an October 6 government meeting, Madiyev laid out a timeline of 186MW in 2027 and another 109MW in Q2 2028, a total of 295MW, or roughly a third of the 1GW goal. The 215MW now reserved is 29MW more than the 2027 commissioning target. The only milestone with a specific quarter, however, is still the 50MW facility in Q2 2027.

For companies looking to rent compute in Kazakhstan, build supporting infrastructure or supply equipment, the takeaway is simple: there is no spare capacity left in the first phase. Newcomers will be looking at the 1,300-hectare reserve and the path to 1GW, and the website lists the later stages only as "to be determined." The 2.5-cent tariff is a starting rate, and the ministry has not said who qualifies for it.

Questions to ask before signing:

1. Does the contract cover the 215MW first phase or later stages that still have no schedule?
2. Who qualifies for the 2.5-cent rate, for how long, and does it move with grid tariffs?
3. Which facility sets the delivery date, and when does capacity beyond Q2 2027 arrive?
4. What exactly do the $5 billion and $10 billion figures include, and who funds each part?

The cover image is an AI-generated illustration and is not directly related to the news.

Sources:
Kazinform (citing Kazakhstan's Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development), https://www.inform.kz/ru/tsentr-obrabotki-dannih-za-5-mlrd-dollarov-stroyat-v-ekibastuze-f85dcb97
Qazinform, https://qazinform.com/news/kazakhstan-builds-5-billion-ai-data-center-hub-in-ekibastuz-a25405
Kursiv, https://kz.kursiv.media/2026-10-19/fvfv-vlasti-nazvali-novuyu-summu-investiciy-v-dolinu-codov-5-mlrd-vmesto-10-mlrd/
Data Center Valley official website, https://dc-valley.com/ru
Official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan (June 15, 2026), https://primeminister.kz/ru/news/dolina-codov-pravitelstvo-kazaxstana-i-it-giganty-firebird-i-nvidia-podpisali-paket-soglasenii-v-oblasti-ii-na-10-mlrd-31516
Official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan (April 17, 2026), https://primeminister.kz/en/news/olzhas-bektenov-holds-meeting-on-implementation-of-the-data-center-valley-project-in-fulfillment-of-presidents-instructions-31285
Sputnik Kazakhstan, https://ru.sputnik.kz/20261019/kak-razvivayut-dolinu-tsodov-v-ekibastuze-pokazali-glave-mintsifry-67696837.html
Business FM Kazakhstan (October 6 government meeting timeline), https://businessfm.kz/business/economy/dolina-codov-v-ekibastuze-pervye-moshnosti-planiruyut-zapustit-v-2027-godu