ASTANA – The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) will provide $31.2 million in financing for the construction of a commercial data center in Astana, expanding Kazakhstan’s digital infrastructure and computing capacity, the bank announced on Oct. 19. EDB Senior Managing Director Ignatov and AKASHI Data Center Chairman Minkevich highlighted the project’s role in expanding Kazakhstan’s digital infrastructure and positioning the country as an exporter of digital services.
Photo: EDB press service The agreement was signed with AKASHI Data Center PLC. The project marks the first data center construction project in the EDB’s investment portfolio. The planned campus will have a total capacity of 100 megawatts (MW), with approximately 10 MW allocated to the first phase.
The company estimates the project’s total investment at $354 million. The first phase is scheduled to begin commercial operations in 2027. The facility is designed to provide data storage and processing services for financial institutions, technology companies and cloud service providers.
The Uptime Institute has awarded Tier IV Certification of Design Documents for the first phase. Sergey Ignatov, EDB senior managing director and head of the project block, said the investment supports Kazakhstan’s priorities in digitalization and artificial intelligence.
The project will expand opportunities for businesses to use modern data infrastructure and support the development of digital services, he said. AKASHI Data Center Chairman of the Management Board Vladislav Minkevich said the project aims to position Kazakhstan as an exporter of digital infrastructure services, attracting international companies seeking to host computing workloads in the country.
He said such activity could generate export revenues and increase demand for local engineering, telecommunications and other services. The campus will comprise four independent data center modules, supported by dedicated power and telecommunications infrastructure.
One module is being designed for high-density artificial intelligence workloads and high-performance computing, using liquid cooling technology. The facility will operate as a carrier-neutral data center, with four independent optical fiber entry points and connectivity options through Kazakh and international telecommunications operators.
The EDB is a multilateral development bank focused on investment and economic integration across Eurasia. As of the end of December 2025, the bank reported that its cumulative portfolio comprised 348 projects with total investments of $22.1 billion.