US and Kazakhstan Seal $17B of Strategic Deals During Tokayev’s Visit
On 6 November 2026, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was in Washington, DC, for a state visit. During this historic trip, both countries signed 29 agreements totaling nearly USD 17 billion across numerous sectors.
Air Astana signed a Letter of Intent to procure 18 widebody Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. Kazakhstan is expected to first receive three planes by the end of 2027. The other planes will be on a rolling delivery until the order is completed. Air Astana also plans to launch a non-stop flight from Almaty to New York JFK Airport and intends to put the new planes on this route.
The Kazakh Ministry of Industry and John Deere signed an industrial cooperation agreement to localize the production of agricultural machines in Kazakhstan. In addition, the JV will set up three service centers to distribute spare parts to the wider CIS region.
Firebird AI is investing up to USD 5 billion to build a data center in Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan. In the first phase, the data center will have a capacity of 125 MW, but it can scale up to 1 GW. Other than being dubbed the Data Center Valley, Ekibastuz is home to large coal-fired power plants that generate cheap power. The long and cold winters also provide natural cooling for high-performance computing. The deal would require export permits for nearly 45,000 advanced Nvidia GPU.
Being a hub on the Trans-Caspian Fiber Backbone, Kazakh Ministry of AI and Digital Development is partnering with Oracle to deploy local cloud services for the country and region. Kazakhstan joined the US-led Pax Silica Initiative to act as a trusted outpost against geopolitical rivals. In addition, Kazakhstan has joined the Abraham Accords to strengthen economic and technological partnership while ensuring strategic security alignment.
US firm Cove Capital and Kazakhstan state-owned mining company Tau-Ken Samruk signed a Joint Development Agreement to exploit the Severniy Katpar and Verkhnee Kairakty tungsten rare earths deposits. The US Government provided a letter of intent to provide federal financing up to USD 1.6 billion for the project. The deal is particularly significant as Kazakhstan has the largest undeveloped tungsten reserves in the world outside China.