Freedom Holding: Building the digital heart of Central Asia – The Freedom Cloud Project

In the industrial heart of Almaty, Kazakhstan, at the ‘Alatau’ innovation hub, a construction project is underway that has the potential to redefine the digital future of Central Asia. Freedom Holding Corp., a Nasdaq-listed company founded by Timur Turlov, has launched the development of the Freedom Cloud data center — a project that’s far more than just another piece of infrastructure. It’s a blueprint for the future.

“Today we began building the Freedom Cloud data center on a 2.5-hectare site. The total investment is about 175 billion tenge ($337 million). It’s the largest data center currently under construction in Almaty, but I’m confident it won’t be the largest we ever build,” says Timur Turlov.

In a world increasingly defined by digitization, fast internet, secure data storage, and self-reliant cloud infrastructure are becoming just as vital as roads and railways once were. From banking and healthcare to government services and everyday communication, nearly every aspect of life is going digital — and data centers have become the train stations of this new economy.

“A modern digital economy simply can’t exist without strong, high-quality infrastructure,” Timur Turlov stresses.

At its core, the Freedom Cloud project is about building a truly independent, agile, and modern IT foundation within Kazakhstan. Rather than acquiring outdated systems or merging with existing operators, Freedom Holding Corp. is starting from scratch, choosing to build — not buy.

This decision reflects a deliberate strategy. Building new infrastructure is not only more cost-effective and faster, it’s also more advanced. “When we build ourselves, we’re not just creating infrastructure — we’re adding value, avoiding the burden of costly construction and inefficient management,” Turlov explains.

Despite Kazakhstan’s digital government ranking among the top 10 globally, the country still lags behind at 80th place for fixed internet speeds. Freedom is stepping in to bridge that gap — not just in Almaty, but also in underserved areas like Shymkent and Turkestan.

The scale of Freedom Holding’s ambition is backed by serious capital. So far, the company has invested approximately $230 million into IT infrastructure. But that’s just the start — over the next 3 to 4 years, total investments could reach $1 billion. The funds will go beyond data centers, fueling the development of mobile networks, fiber optic backbones, and cloud services.

“We’re building a national operator — one with the country’s largest optical network, our own cloud infrastructure, and eventually, the potential to become a mobile operator,” Timur Turlov says.

Freedom Holding isn’t weighed down by legacy systems or bureaucratic delays. Instead, the team collaborates directly with tech titans like NVIDIA, Intel, and AWS.

Freedom Holding Corp. is also investing in its people — developing a training center, acquiring cutting-edge equipment, training specialists, and fine-tuning the process of laying fiber optics, slashing costs by a factor of two or three.

“It’s not the most glamorous work, but if you set it up right, you build fast, efficiently, and far cheaper,” Turlov notes.

Freedom Holding isn’t stopping at infrastructure. It is creating an entire digital ecosystem — where communication, banking, government services, and online marketplaces are integrated into a single digital interface: its own SuperApp.

“We want our customers to come straight into our SuperApp. Even the SIM card should be a digital part of this ecosystem,” says Turlov.

The Freedom Cloud project isn’t just about tech. It’s about vision — showing that private enterprise can take the lead in building a digital Kazakhstan, while also recognizing that the infrastructure of the 21st century isn’t built with cement and steel — but with fiber optics, data centers, and cloud platforms. As Turlov sees it, this is just the beginning.