Freedom Holding and Citi to Build an AI Supercluster in Kazakhstan

Citi plans to attract international capital to finance the project, while Freedom Holding acts as the technological and operational partner.

Country and market

Kazakhstan is trying to solve the problem of a computing power deficit. Timur Turlov, head of Freedom Holding Corp., noted that AI servers are currently physically difficult to purchase due to high costs and US export restrictions. At the same time, the demand for local data processing is growing.

Financial organizations and government platforms cannot transfer sensitive information to foreign servers. The new cluster will operate according to Kazakhstani personal data protection rules. This will allow banks to legally use heavy AI models for scoring and anti-fraud within the country.

In parallel, the holding is building a Data Embassy—infrastructure to attract foreign clients who need a secure jurisdiction for data storage and processing.

Why it matters

Without local GPU capacities, the development of fintech and digital government services hits a hardware ceiling.

Access to a sovereign AI cluster will reduce the dependence of Kazakhstani banks on foreign cloud providers and accelerate the implementation of generative networks into real financial products.

In addition to hardware, the memorandum touches upon the development of the digital asset ecosystem. The participants plan to test cross-border settlements based on blockchain and new formats of digital banking.

What’s next

The launch of the first phase of the supercluster is scheduled for the first quarter of 2027. The second and third phases will be commissioned throughout 2027–2028. Earlier, in the autumn of 2025, Freedom Holding had already announced plans to create a specialized AI center jointly with NVIDIA worth about $2 billion. The current memorandum moves these plans into the stage of practical implementation with the involvement of global financing.