01
A new role for the state
“From direct participation in development to shaping demand.” In-house government development is phased down, except for specific sectoral and supervisory functions.
Digital Qazaqstan Strategy to 2029
National Registry of IT Companies of Kazakhstan
A transparent map of the industry: classification by competency and maturity, objective criteria, independent verification. The instrument that makes preference for domestic solutions, offtake contracts and targeted support workable in practice.
3maturity levels
8objective criteria
1open entry for all
Pilot — December 2026. Open applications — February 2027.
Legal basis
The Digital Qazaqstan Strategy to 2029
The national strategy for large-scale digitalisation and comprehensive adoption of artificial intelligence, approved by Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The registry is the instrument that makes its core mechanisms executable.
02
Market-based financing
Funding is predominantly non-budgetary: public-private partnerships, offtake contracts, guaranteed demand and co-investment. Estimated investment: $10.5–16.5 billion over three years.
03
Preference for domestic companies
Transparent mechanisms for piloting, scaling and long-term contracts. Successful pilots receive guaranteed scale-up.
04
Product IT infrastructure
National cloud, compute capacity, sectoral data lakes, model libraries and a national corpus of Kazakh-language data.
The missing instrument
The Strategy establishes preference for domestic companies, offtake contracts and pilot scale-up, yet it does not define the instrument required to apply them: no public registry of IT companies classified by competency and maturity exists in the country. Preference cannot be granted and long-term contracts cannot be awarded until the industry is classified and verified. The registry closes this gap.
Source: National Strategy for Large-Scale Digitalisation and Comprehensive Adoption of Artificial Intelligence “Digital Qazaqstan” to 2029, approved by Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Purpose
Five tasks the registry addresses
For the Strategy’s mechanisms to function, the industry must be visible, classified and verified.
1
Export as a priority
Export maturity becomes measurable: exporting is part of the top-tier criteria, and companies with genuine potential receive targeted support rather than a mass mailing.
2
Prioritising effort
The registry reveals where the country holds real competencies and export potential — and allows support to be directed there instead of being spread thin.
3
Cooperation with business
A verified pool of national contractors for government platforms and a standing feedback channel through the IT Companies Council.
4
A growth roadmap
A company sees not only its level but exactly what is required to reach the next one and which support opens up as a result.
5
Industry competitiveness
Artificial intelligence is raising the competitive bar sharply. The registry makes it possible to see, strengthen and export what the country genuinely has.
Classification
Three maturity levels
A level is assigned solely against objective, numerical, published criteria and is reviewed annually — in both directions. It describes a company’s actual standing; it is not a title.
Level 1
Start-up
- Age
- 0–2 years
- Revenue
- under $500K
- Headcount
- 1–15
- Clients
- 1–20
- Export
- not required
- Product
- MVP / prototype
Level 2
Established business
- Age
- 2–5 years
- Revenue
- $0.5–10M
- Headcount
- 15–50
- Clients
- 20–100
- Export
- desirable
- R&D
- ≥5% of revenue
Level 3
Top tier
- Age
- 5+ years
- Revenue
- $10M+
- Headcount
- 50+
- Clients
- 100+
- Export
- ≥2 countries
- Audit
- independent
Support measures
Benefits by level
Each level unlocks its own set of instruments. Benefits are categorical and available to any company meeting the criteria — which is what makes them compatible with competition law.
| Instrument | Level 1 — Start-up | Level 2 — Established business | Level 3 — Top tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financing | Grants up to $100K | Loans and grants up to $500K, co-investment | Access to strategic public contracts and development institutions |
| Public procurement | Access to pilot projects | Scale-up of successful pilots | Mandatory consideration ahead of in-house government development |
| Long-term contracts | — | Participation in guaranteed-demand programmes | Offtake contracts and guaranteed demand |
| Export | Export readiness assessment | Kazakh Invest and QazTrade export programmes | Export subsidies, trade missions, visa support |
| Development | Astana Hub acceleration | Access to national cloud and compute capacity | Sectoral data lakes, model libraries, R&D cooperation |
| Engagement | Public profile in the registry | Profile with verified indicators | Direct channel to Ministry leadership, seat on the IT Companies Council |
Priority consideration does not mean award without competition. A public buyer must review a verified market solution before launching its own development, but selects the best offer available in the registry.
Self-assessment
Check your level in one minute
Eight questions based on the official criteria. You will immediately see your indicative level and what is missing to reach the next one.
Completed 0 / 8
—
The public part of the registry
Company catalogue
This is how the registry looks after first publication: search by competency, maturity level, participant type and export markets. In a company record, every indicator shows the source that confirms it.
Open the catalogue Demonstration dataMission
Where the country holds real competencies
The registry is not built to hand out titles. It is built to answer, for the first time with evidence, a single question: in which areas does Kazakhstan genuinely hold technological competencies and export potential?
Today that answer rests on expert opinion and industry surveys. The registry replaces them with evidence: verified data on revenue, products, intellectual property, deployments and export markets. The list of priority areas will be formed from the results of the first verification cycle — on data, not in advance.
Until that data exists, the state does not fix a final list of priorities. This is a matter of principle: assigning priorities in advance would repeat the very error the registry is designed to correct.
What to do about electronics manufacturing
Manufacturing base microelectronics — processors, lithography, mobile operating systems — requires tens of billions of dollars and is closed even to large economies. Here the rational national strategy is to buy the best available global technology. Applied electronics and cyber-physical systems, however — unmanned systems, robotics, industrial controllers, spacecraft — are explicitly addressed by the Strategy, and their value is created by embedded software and applied engineering rather than by component fabrication. The registry separates these two categories and measures the second alongside software domains.
Where system integrators belong
Companies that deploy and support third-party solutions are essential to the economy, but their revenue is not a measure of technological maturity. The registry therefore introduces a second axis, independent of level — participant type: product company, engineering and services company, system integrator, distributor. Level criteria are calculated on core revenue, excluding the value of resold licences and hardware. Integrators receive their own competency certification track and access to pilot scale-up, while benefits reserved for local products are tied to ownership of intellectual property.
The industry in figures
Kazakhstan is a net technology exporter
The registry is designed to move companies into external markets, using the domestic market as a reference.
$1.142B
IT services exports in 2025, up 36% year on year
2.6×
Exports over imports of digital solutions
×2
Strategy target for IT services exports by 2029
20,000
High-technology jobs to be created by 2029
Sources: National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Digital Development (April 2026); Digital Qazaqstan Strategy to 2029.
Foundation of trust
Four principles of transparency
The registry’s legitimacy rests on these properties — and each of them is visible in the interface, not merely stated in the regulation.
Objectivity
Levels are assigned against numerical, published criteria. A company sees the calculation of its own compliance, not a verdict.
Openness
Any IT company in Kazakhstan may apply. There are no closed lists and no invitations.
Non-discrimination
Benefits are categorical, not personal. Priority consideration is not exclusivity.
Accountability
Published decision records, annual re-certification, the right of appeal, and sanctions for misrepresentation.
Roadmap
Launch plan
The registry launches in stages: criteria and procedure first, then a pilot on a limited sample, then open applications.
- August 2026Working groupOrder on composition, engagement with the industry begins
- September 2026Regulation and criteriaApproval of criteria and the verification procedure
- Oct — Nov 2026Registry platformDevelopment following an open selection of the technology partner
- December 2026Pilot10–15 companies: criteria validation and market feedback
- January 2027Official statusOrder bringing the registry into force
- February 2027Open applicationsAvailable to every IT company in Kazakhstan
- March 2027First publicationThe registry is published by level and competency
- April 2027IT Companies CouncilFirst session; a standing state–industry channel
Register interest
Be first to know when applications open
Leave your details — we will notify you when applications open and send materials on the criteria and verification procedure.