ASTANA, March 17 (AJP) - Kazakhstan's international innovation cluster, Astana Hub, is actively inviting South Korean developers and startups to help construct a high-technology corridor across Central Eurasia. Operating out of the capital, the state-backed facility offers an absolute zero-tax regime to foreign entities willing to relocate. Director of the Office of International Relations and Investments Daniyar Zhumagulov extended a direct invitation to Seoul's technology sector during a March 13 interview at the center.
"South Korean startups should know they can soft land here with their ideas, opening their branches here, and in turn, we can propose to our startups to try to investigate the South Korean market with their solutions," he stated.
The facility currently hosts more than 2,000 participating companies and supports a workforce exceeding 30,000 employees. Approximately a quarter of these enterprises were founded by foreign nationals, drawing talents from Azerbaijan, Mongolia, and Eastern Europe. The ecosystem has already proven capable of scaling global enterprises, recently producing its first unicorn startup. In the venture capital industry, a unicorn designates a privately held startup valued at over 1 billion dollars, a rare milestone achieved by the artificial intelligence video generation platform Higgsfield AI late last year.
History and operation of the hub
Astana Hub was officially launched in November 2018 as a cornerstone of the Digital Kazakhstan state program. According to both the director's presentation and a recent report by The Korea Herald, the center was established using the futuristic pavilions left over from the 2017 international energy exposition, transforming a former event space into a permanent technological nexus. While created by the government and benefiting from state financial backing, it operates with the business-first mindset of a private enterprise.
Zhumagulov explained this unique structure by noting their approach is deliberately distinct from traditional bureaucracies. "You see, we are a quasi-state organization because we were created with the support of the government first, but we work with the business and IT community, and we are very flexible," the director said. By eliminating corporate, individual, and value-added taxes until 2029, the facility has attracted significant foreign participation. "We are serving as a bridge every time between big companies and small startups," he added.
Shifting away from an extractive economy
Historically reliant on its vast mineral and hydrocarbon wealth, the nation is executing a deliberate shift toward a digital economy. This macroeconomic realignment requires legacy sectors to modernize rather than shut down entirely. A national mandate currently forces subsoil operators to allocate 1 percent of their annual revenue to research and development. The hub acts as a central operator connecting these massive mining conglomerates with domestic startups to integrate automation and predictive models.
For example, developers are building digital twins, which are highly detailed virtual replicas of physical mines or oil rigs. These digital models allow engineers to run safety and efficiency simulations before deploying expensive equipment in the real world. Backing this nationwide transition is the comprehensive Law on Artificial Intelligence, enacted in January 2026, establishing a strict risk-based classification system for machine learning deployments.
Geopolitical alignment with Seoul
This legislative framework aligns closely with the technological trajectory currently being charted in South Korea. The administration of President Lee Jae Myung has prioritized the integration of machine learning across all demographics. His government champions an initiative designed to make artificial intelligence accessible to both the youth and the elderly. Both nations recognize that advanced computing infrastructure requires centralized backing rather than relying entirely on private venture capital.
Graphics processing units, commonly known as GPUs, are specialized computer chips required to process the massive datasets necessary for training artificial intelligence. Because they are incredibly complex and expensive to manufacture, they have become a major financial bottleneck for independent developers. "I think that in terms of AI, governments must take the lead because, as you have seen, GPU capacity could not be built only with private money," Zhumagulov noted. To bypass this hurdle, the Kazakhstani state deployed a two-exaflop supercomputer cluster near the capital, distributing its processing power evenly across governmental services, scientific research, and the startup community.
Cultivating a global workforce
Comparing their operational style to neighboring technology parks, the director emphasized their tactical efficiency. "We are the Marine Corps of the IT and AI sector," he said. "We are very agile. Let us do this like professionals." Cultivating a specialized workforce remains the central pillar of the institution's long-term strategy to sustain this operational speed.
The administration operates educational facilities, including the TUMO school, which provides tuition-free programming instruction specifically for children aged 12 to 18. For adults, the Tomorrow School model offers peer-to-peer coding education, requiring only a two-year physical relocation commitment to the capital. Zhumagulov explicitly invited international participation in these educational and incubation programs, noting, "We have created it for all the people in the world." The institution aims to utilize these diverse talent pipelines to reach 5 billion dollars in annual technology exports by 2030.
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