Tajikistan Unveils Central Asia's First AI Innovation Hub With NVIDIA Support

Tajikistan has presented a project to establish Central Asia's first Innovation Hub of Applied Artificial Intelligence in Dushanbe with the support of U.S. technology company NVIDIA. Trend reported that the presentation took place on October 21 at the Tajik Embassy in Germany as part of the NVIDIA GTC Berlin 2026 international conference.

Inside Tajikistan's AI Innovation Hub

The event was attended by Global Head of AI Nations at NVIDIA Shilpa Kolhatkar, along with representatives of technology companies including Armada, VEON, DataVolt, Perplexity, and Supermicro. Tajikistan's Ambassador to Germany Imomuddin Sattorov said artificial intelligence development is one of the country's state policy priorities. He noted that establishing the hub with NVIDIA's support would contribute to achieving the objectives of the UN General Assembly resolution on the role of artificial intelligence in the sustainable development of Central Asia, adopted in July 2025 at the initiative of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon.

Azizjon Azimi, Chairman of the Artificial Intelligence Council under Tajikistan's Ministry of Industry and New Technologies, outlined plans for the hub, including specialist training in cooperation with NVIDIA and the introduction of Physical AI technologies into the country's industrial sector. The hub will bring together universities, developers, startups, and industrial enterprises to provide training, conduct research, and facilitate the practical application of artificial intelligence technologies. The hub is being developed and managed by zehnlab.ai, one of the founders of the Area AI consortium, while institutional support is provided by the Artificial Intelligence Council under the ministry. The initiative also envisages establishing a Physical AI Lab in Khujand, which will focus on researching and testing these technologies in industry, including the mining sector.

NVIDIA's Physical AI Partnerships

NVIDIA is a publicly traded full-stack AI computing platform company founded in 1993 that designs GPUs, CPUs, networking, and rack-scale systems running the CUDA software stack, according to akta.pro company records. The same records show a June 2026 partnership in which a roughly 30-member LG Group delegation held high-level talks at NVIDIA's Santa Clara headquarters, indicating progress on AI infrastructure, robotics, and Physical AI cooperation. NVIDIA reported Q1 fiscal 2027 revenue of $81.6 billion, up 85% year-over-year, with data center revenue of $75.2 billion, up 92% year-over-year.

Tajikistan's Earlier AI Steps

In 2022, Tajikistan became the first country in Central Asia to adopt a National Artificial Intelligence Development Strategy, according to Trend. The establishment of the hub marks the next stage in the development of the Area AI platform and is intended to expand opportunities for workforce training, research, and the practical application of AI technologies in Tajikistan and across the region.

What Comes Next for the Hub

The hub's specialist training will be conducted in cooperation with NVIDIA, and the Physical AI Lab in Khujand is planned to research and test Physical AI technologies in industry, including the mining sector.