Uzbekistan is building a more distributed digital infrastructure as its state telecom operator Uztelecom opens new AI-ready data centers outside the capital and expands connectivity options for remote regions. The company unveiled the projects on September 22 during ICTWEEK Uzbekistan 2026 in Tashkent, where the government and technology sector are showcasing new digital infrastructure initiatives through September 25. The package combines regional computing capacity, satellite connectivity and a high-speed optical network designed to move large datasets between facilities. Together, the projects point toward a national computing architecture that does not depend entirely on infrastructure concentrated around Tashkent.

Uztelecom has opened new data centers in Bukhara and Kokand under its UzCloud platform, giving government organizations and businesses access to additional computing resources. The facilities include GPU-equipped servers intended for artificial intelligence model training and inference, machine learning, large-scale data processing and video analytics. Bukhara and Kokand sit more than 300 kilometers from Tashkent, creating geographic separation between critical computing resources. That separation can give operators another location for workloads when an individual facility encounters an operational disruption.

The regional placement also matters for how Uzbekistan plans to scale AI workloads. Instead of treating computing capacity as a single centralized pool, the UzCloud expansion creates additional locations that can participate in a broader infrastructure footprint. Both facilities have received Tier III design certification from the Uptime Institute, indicating that their designs support maintenance without requiring an interruption to operations. For AI customers, that infrastructure model creates a foundation for workloads that need greater availability while allowing capacity to grow across multiple regions. “We are expanding access to computing resources and artificial intelligence capabilities for the government and businesses,” Umar Izbasarov, Director of Uztelecom’s Department for Advanced Development and Investment Projects, said at ICTWEEK.

Amazon Leo Extends Connectivity Into Remote Areas

Uztelecom is pairing that computing expansion with a satellite connectivity agreement that could extend network access beyond the reach of conventional terrestrial infrastructure. The operator has signed an agreement with Amazon Leo, Amazon’s low-Earth-orbit satellite network, while its UZ-SAT subsidiary will serve as an authorized distributor of the service in Uzbekistan. Amazon is developing the network toward a constellation of more than 3,000 satellites designed to deliver connectivity in locations where building terrestrial networks can prove difficult or expensive. The deal gives Uzbekistan another connectivity layer as it expands digital services outside its largest urban centers.

Uztelecom says its existing infrastructure reaches 96% of the country’s settlements, while its fiber-optic network stretches for more than 378,000 kilometers. Satellite connectivity could therefore serve a complementary role rather than replacing the operator’s terrestrial network. Remote communities, industrial facilities and other locations with limited fiber access could gain another route into Uzbekistan’s broader digital infrastructure. The announcement, however, does not establish a timetable for broad commercial availability of Amazon Leo services to Uzbek customers. “The partnership with Amazon Leo will allow us to expand connectivity in areas of the country where the use of traditional terrestrial infrastructure is limited,” UZ-SAT CEO Bakhrom Azimov said.

The strategic significance extends beyond consumer internet access. As computing capacity moves into regional facilities, the network connecting users, industrial operations and cloud infrastructure becomes increasingly important to the overall system. Satellite links can provide an additional connectivity path where fiber deployment remains challenging, while mobile and terrestrial networks continue serving areas with established infrastructure. Uzbekistan is effectively building multiple layers of access around its expanding digital economy rather than relying on one network technology.

800 Gbps Photonic Link Targets AI Data Movement

The third initiative focuses on a less visible but increasingly important part of AI infrastructure: moving data between computing facilities. Uztelecom is working with Toyota Tsusho, NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS and NEC on a pilot All-Photonics Network, or APN, designed to connect data centers using optical technology. APN keeps information in optical form for more of its journey, reducing repeated conversions between optical and electrical signals. That architecture can support higher-speed connections while potentially reducing the energy required to move large quantities of data.

The first phase plans to connect two Uztelecom data centers in the Tashkent region. The proposed connection targets bandwidth of up to 800 Gbps with latency below one millisecond, creating a high-performance link for workloads that need rapid movement between facilities. The companies expect the network to reach the Bukhara and Kokand data centers during 2027-2028. That expansion would turn the regional facilities from separate computing sites into components of a more closely connected national infrastructure layer. “The growing needs of Uzbekistan’s economy require new data centers and network technologies capable of connecting them into a single high-performance system,” Izbasarov said.

Uzbekistan’s AI Buildout Is Getting Much Larger

The latest projects arrive as Uzbekistan pursues a substantially larger expansion of computing capacity. Regional UzCloud facilities, satellite connectivity and photonic networking represent different pieces of the same infrastructure equation: compute needs power and cooling, but it also needs resilient networks capable of moving data between users and machines. Expanding that architecture across multiple regions can create additional flexibility as demand for AI services, cloud computing and data-intensive applications grows. The approach also gives Uzbekistan an infrastructure base that can connect future facilities rather than treating every data center as an isolated deployment.

The scale of planned investment elsewhere in the country shows how quickly that ambition is developing. Saudi Arabia-based DataVolt has announced plans for data-center facilities in Uzbekistan with combined capacity of up to 500 MW, alongside planned investment of $3 billion. Those projects would operate at a vastly different scale from the newly opened regional facilities, but they fit into the same broader shift toward building Uzbekistan into a larger computing and digital infrastructure market. The emerging architecture increasingly links regional compute, high-capacity networking and alternative connectivity into one national strategy.