Data Center Race: An Opportunity for Uzbekistan

**The data center race: An opportunity for Uzbekistan**

Global demand for computing power for artificial intelligence is growing rapidly. Can Uzbekistan attract large data centers, and what is needed to achieve this?

The United States is leading the largest infrastructure race in history for AI computing power. Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta have each planned capital expenditures ranging from $130 billion to $220 billion by 2026.

Electricity has become one of the market's main constraints. Grid connection takes several years, moratoria and construction restrictions have affected 46 US states, and the average price of electricity for industrial consumers has increased by 35 percent in five years. This is prompting companies to consider new regions and countries for placing their capacity.

Uzbekistan possesses a combination of advantages unique to the region: a special regime for AI projects (PF-189), two special legal regimes incorporating elements of English law (Enterprise Uzbekistan and AIFC), a relatively competitive electricity tariff, and enormous potential for renewable energy sources (RES).

However, to turn these advantages into real investment projects, the country needs ready-made sites with power supplies for investors.

The US data center market is the largest in the world and is growing at record rates. According to JLL, by the end of 2025, data centers with a capacity of 39 GW were operating in North America, and by mid-2026, an additional 66+ GW of capacity was under construction. For comparison: when operating at full load, the capacities under construction will consume more electricity than all of Germany. There is virtually no spare capacity — the vacant share is only around 1.4 percent.

A category of megaprojects has formed. For example, the Stargate program, with planned investments of $500 billion, secured access to future capacities exceeding 10 GW. OpenAI and Anthropic are negotiating deals for dozens of gigawatts of capacity. To imagine the scale: 1 GW operating at 90 percent load consumes an amount of electricity in one year equivalent to the energy consumption of approximately 750,000 American households. Building an AI campus with advanced NVIDIA chips and server equipment costs $40−60 billion per gigawatt.

In 2027, according to JLL forecasts, the main type of workload among AI tasks may not be model training, but inference — using models that have already been trained. Large remote campuses are suitable for training, while being close to the end user is important for inference. Therefore, the role of regional centers is increasing. For Uzbekistan, data centers intended for training models where distance from users does not interfere, as well as for performing inference in its own region, can become a realistic direction.

**Investment dynamics.**

According to DellʼOro Group, global capital expenditures for data centers increased by 57 percent in 2025. The company expects their volume to exceed $3 trillion by 2030. Nearly half of these expenses are accounted for by Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, with the main portion of expenditures consisting of AI accelerators.

**Energy.**

The growth of computing power is accompanied by a sharp increase in demand for electricity. According to the International Energy Agency's forecast, global electricity consumption by data centers will almost double by 2030. In the US, data processing consumes more electricity than the total volume spent on the production of aluminum, steel, cement, and chemical products. The consumption of American data centers will increase 2 to 3.5 times by 2030.

The main problem in the market is a chronic shortage of electrical power. In such conditions, companies have three options: wait for grid connection, which can take more than four years, build private generation capacity, or relocate capacity to other countries. More and more developers are choosing to set up private generation directly on site, but the delivery time for large gas turbines extends to five years or more.

In addition, the US market has faced resistance from the public and local authorities. In the first half of 2026, protests at the local level led to the cancellation or delay of at least 120 projects with an announced total value of nearly $200 billion. The main reasons are concerns related to rising electricity prices for the population, water consumption, harmful emissions, and low economic benefit for local communities.

The scope of restrictions continues to expand. Local authorities are increasingly introducing moratoria on data center construction or tightening requirements for new projects.

By presidential decree (PF-189), a special regime for AI infrastructure projects was created in Karakalpakstan. The package includes:

In addition, the Enterprise Uzbekistan and Tashkent International Financial Centre (TIFC) regimes envisage a legal framework with elements of English and Welsh common law and the possibility of resolving disputes in the Tashkent International Commercial Court.

By the end of 2026, it is planned to launch nearly 6 GW of new generation capacity in Uzbekistan — mainly solar and thermal generation, as well as approximately 0.9 GW of electricity storage systems.

At the same time, several key risks remain in the development of data centers:

To reduce dependence on certain transit states, it is necessary to ensure at least three independent international fiber-optic communication routes. In Karakalpakstan, where water scarcity persists, the implementation of liquid cooling systems with a closed loop and minimal water consumption should be a priority task. These requirements must be taken into account as early as the site selection stage.

Other countries competing to attract investment in AI infrastructure are applying different approaches. Their experience allows us to highlight a number of solutions that could also be useful for Uzbekistan.

**Country — Key incentives — Conclusion for Uzbekistan**

**Saudi Arabia**

Special zone for cloud companies, 100 percent foreign ownership, and the ability to freely repatriate profits

Link investment incentives with the legal regime of the Tashkent International Financial Centre (TIFC)

**UAE**

Co-financing of projects with state participation, agreeing on the supply of advanced chips with the US

Conduct preliminary negotiations with US regulators and consider the co-financing of major projects with state participation

**Kazakhstan**

Incentives of special economic zones, application of English law at the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC)

Compete in attracting investors due to the speed of project implementation and the ability to use renewable energy

**Ireland (negative experience)**

Data centers consume nearly a quarter of the country's electricity. Connection of new facilities to grids in the Dublin area has effectively been halted

Take energy system capabilities into account and do not guarantee investors unrestricted connection to electrical grids

In Uzbekistan, the current electricity tariff for data centers is lower than in Saudi Arabia, but higher than in Turkmenistan, Qatar, Kyrgyzstan, and China's Xinjiang region. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan is developing a tariff of approximately $0.025/kWh for its "Data Center Valley."

The experience of neighboring countries in attracting American technologies and investments is also noteworthy.

In Armenia, the American company Firebird opened a 15 MW AI factory, which is the first phase of a $500 million project. Developing the next phase became possible after obtaining a US export license for the delivery of 41,000 NVIDIA GB300 GPUs. After the second phase, the total volume of investments in the project is estimated at over $5 billion.

In Kazakhstan, a $10 billion package of agreements was signed with Firebird and NVIDIA. The state-owned company Kazakhtelecom is investing $1 billion in the project.

Uzbekistan is currently taking its first steps. The Ministry of Digital Technologies announced its intention to purchase two computing clusters with a total capacity of 1 MW from NVIDIA and tied the contract signing deadlines to US export permits. The most prominent project under construction — the DataVolt data center in Tashkent — is designed for 12 MW. However, in terms of scale, these projects fall significantly behind those of its neighbors.

The adopted decisions — PF-189, TIFC, and Enterprise Uzbekistan regimes — create a good foundation. Now it is important to turn them into an offer that the investor will respond to with a contract.

The site selection practices of companies like Microsoft, AWS, and Google allow us to highlight the main requirements of major investors.

In first place is the timeline for launching capacity: a guaranteed date for connecting 100 MW or more with the possibility of expansion. Following in importance are electricity price and stability (long-term contract), predictability of rules (arbitration, stabilization clauses), land leased for a long term, compliance with US requirements on chips, and the tax and customs regime.

Armenia's experience shows how important an agreement with the US is to obtain advanced chips. Armenia's great success in this regard began with a memorandum signed with Washington on artificial intelligence and semiconductors, after which an export license was granted. It would be advisable for Uzbekistan to reach a similar agreement and tie it to a specific project whose licenses are agreed upon in advance. In this case, the state could become the first customer for computing power.

The package of incentives under PF-189 can compete with the regimes of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but investors care not only about tax benefits, but also about the execution of contracts, protection from changes in rules, and understandable arbitration.

Therefore, it would be more effective to strengthen the legal aspect and link this package with the Enterprise Uzbekistan and TIFC regimes.

Uzbekistan is more likely to conclude its first major deal not with Microsoft, Amazon, or Google — which do not yet include our country among their priority markets — but with specialized cloud technology companies or data center developers. Potential partners include Oracle, CoreWeave, Vantage Data Centers, QTS/Blackstone, and Digital Realty. Such companies can build computing capacities for specific customers. Negotiations with the largest technology corporations should be conducted in parallel.

To bid for large projects, Uzbekistan needs a clear package of proposals for investors. Ready-made sites, reliable power supply, and predictable rules should form its basis.

The first is preparing sites prior to making public announcements.

It is proposed to develop a detailed technical passport for each of them: specifying the land area and its legal status, available electrical power, grid connection timelines, private generation sources not linked to domestic consumption, water supply and cooling options, as well as international communication channels.

The costs of constructing substations and power transmission lines must be separately defined. This will allow potential investors to evaluate the project and proceed to discussing specific deal terms.

The second is extending the special regime (PF-189) to three more regions: Navoiy, where gas generation can be combined with renewable energy; Syrdarya, which is considered one of the country's major energy hubs; and Tashkent region, which has a developed internet infrastructure and the ability to attract engineering personnel for operating trained AI models.

The third is establishing a fixed tariff of $0.04 per kWh without multiplying coefficients.

Currently, during peak hours, a 1.5 coefficient raises the tariff from $0.05 to $0.075 per kWh. For round-the-clock data centers, this increases the total cost of power supply.

This refers to electricity obtained from new stations being built for a specific project (primarily from RES), not capacity intended for the population.

A 4-cent tariff fully covers the cost of new generation, so data centers will not be subsidized at the expense of other consumers. Around the world, large consumers connected to high-voltage grids pay less than domestic consumers because they do not require distribution networks.

The fourth is revising requirements for daily load reductions during peak hours.

Major cloud technology companies require almost continuous data center operations, so regular restrictions serve as an alarming signal for them. It is advisable to retain the grid operator's right to limit consumption only in the event of an emergency deficit — for a pre-agreed number of hours per year and subject to compensation payments.

The fifth is simplifying the lease of land at a nominal price for 49−99 years and creating a "single window" system with clear deadlines for reviewing applications. Allowing project companies to register under the jurisdiction of the TIFC with the option to resolve disputes in the Tashkent International Commercial Court or international arbitration. Providing guarantees for carrying out foreign exchange operations and strengthening protection for investors against changes in agreed terms in contracts.

Even the US is failing to keep up with the growing demand for computing power. Electricity shortages and opposition from the public and local authorities to data center construction open up an opportunity for Uzbekistan to attract new investors. In this race, the side that prepares its energy infrastructure and predictable legal regime in advance will win.

At the same time, the window of opportunity is closing fast. Armenia has already launched the first phase of its AI factory and received an American license for the supply of advanced chips, while Kazakhstan has signed deals worth billions of dollars. If project preparation and negotiations with partners are not accelerated, investors currently choosing sites in Central Asia and the Caucasus may make their choice by bypassing us.

For the country, this means more than just investments. As part of the projects, new generation capacities and networks will appear that remain in the energy system. While construction will create thousands of jobs, the facilities themselves will create high-paying jobs for engineers and demand for training such personnel. Uzbek companies and government agencies will gain access to computing power within the country, and the export of digital services will become a new source of revenue.

Uzbekistan is capable of joining the global race for computing power. Benefits alone are not enough for this. Ready-made sites, a fixed competitive tariff, extending the special regime to other regions, reliable legal guarantees, and an agreement with the US on the supply of advanced chips are required.