From cable across the Caspian to the "Data Center Valley" — the digital strategy of "Ädilet

The section of the «Әділет» program on the digital state sets the next benchmark — to bring individual projects and targeted achievements to a full-fledged, sustainable digital economy with its own data infrastructure, ongoing funding, and a mass-trained workforce.

The gist in brief

• The party promises to complete the construction of a submarine fiber-optic cable along the bottom of the Caspian Sea and the «West–East» hyper-magistral, cementing Kazakhstan's status as a digital transit hub of Eurasia.
• Plans are underway to launch an AI Hub with a «Data Center Valley» and the Exponential Cluster technology cluster on the EXPO grounds.
• At least 5 million Kazakhstanis will undergo training in working with artificial intelligence, and 100,000 specialists in AI and deeptech technologies will be trained.
• More than 3,000 rural settlements will be connected to broadband internet, eliminating the digital divide between city and countryside.

Cable along the Caspian seabed — the task is to bring it to full launch

The promise to complete the submarine fiber-optic cable along the Caspian seabed is specific and measurable. The maritime phase of laying the Trans-Caspian communication line along the Aktau — Sumgait route has already been completed: the cable, being built by Kazakhtelecom and AzerTelecom International, has reached the Kazakh coast, with full system launch scheduled for autumn 2026. The program fixes specific responsibility — not only to launch this line but also to synchronize it with the «West–East» hyper-magistral into a single digital transit corridor, securing Kazakhstan's status as a nodal hub of Eurasia rather than just one link in someone else's routes.

 «Data Center Valley» as the foundation for a full-fledged AI Hub

The idea of creating an AI Hub with a «Data Center Valley» rests on a specific site: a data center campus project is being implemented in Ekibastuz, billed as the largest in Central Asia — with initial capacity of 300 MW and phased expansion to 1 GW, alongside negotiations with more than 20 international technology companies. The task the program sets for itself is not merely to register the existence of this site but to turn it into a full-fledged AI Hub with research centers, venture funding, and the Exponential Cluster technology cluster on the EXPO grounds — that is, to build an entire ecosystem around the infrastructure rather than leave it as a standalone industrial facility.

Long-term financing of the AI ecosystem

Training hundreds of thousands of specialists and launching new technology clusters requires funding for years ahead, not a one-off tranche. Kazakhstan is negotiating with the World Bank for a loan of up to $75 million to establish an Artificial Intelligence Center, cloud platforms, and a venture fund for technology startups under a broader program worth $149 million. The party's program embeds exactly this model on a permanent basis — distributed financing between the state, international development institutions, and private capital — so that technology initiatives do not depend on a single source of money and continue after specific grants and loans conclude.

Training millions of Kazakhstanis to work with AI

The goal of training at least 5 million Kazakhstanis to work with artificial intelligence represents a multiple-fold increase over the current reach of the AI-Sana program, which today covers 650,000 students at Kazakh universities: the party's program shifts the focus from the university audience to the entire country — schoolchildren, working adults, and residents of regions, not just major cities. The groundwork for such scaling already exists at the international level: in June 2026, Kazakhstan became the first country in Central Asia to join the global technology alliance Pax Silica, which unites 16 states around AI, critical minerals, semiconductors, and data centers, while the United States and Stanford University are creating a network of Foundry Schools in member countries. The program's task is to convert this international status into the training of precisely those 100,000 Kazakh engineers the party is announcing, rather than leaving alliance membership as a diplomatic achievement without practical personnel results domestically.

Author's conclusion

The digital section of the «Әділет» program stands out because every major promise — the Caspian seabed cable, the «Data Center Valley», financing of the AI ecosystem, training millions of Kazakhstanis — is tied to a specific, measurable task: bringing existing projects to full launch, integrating them into a unified strategy, and turning individual achievements such as joining Pax Silica into a systemic domestic result. This approach sets clear benchmarks against which the program's implementation can be assessed in the coming years.