NVIDIA said Firebird will deploy 45,000 Grace Blackwell GPUs in Kazakhstan under a US export licence, as part of a national AI compute ecosystem. The data centre will be built in the Ekibastuz area with Kazakhtelecom, with commercial operation targeted for the third quarter of 2027 and a path to as much as 500 MW. The deal sits within a package of agreements worth about 10 billion dollars that could reach up to 100,000 GPUs. Kazakhtelecom also plans more than 1,000 Vera Rubin GPUs in 2027.

What it means: The news shows how governments outside the big tech hubs are trying to secure their own AI computing power at a time when US export licences decide who gets the most advanced chips. For Greece, which wants to be a data-centre hub for south-east Europe with projects in Attica and the north, the example carries two messages. First, the race for GPUs and power is now global, not just European, so plans for new centres need to lock in electricity, cooling and connectivity early. Second, access to cheap energy is the main advantage countries such as Kazakhstan promote, and in Greece renewables could play a similar role if grid constraints are solved. For Greek software firms, more global capacity may gradually mean cheaper rented compute, but using centres outside the EU brings GDPR and export-control questions. The choice of provider should always consider where data sits and which law applies. The project is worth following as an indicator of how quickly such national AI centres can actually be built and filled, since announcements in this field often run well ahead of delivery.

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