Over the past four years, Kazakhstan’s official IT service exports surged by an astonishing 34-fold: climbing from $33.5 million in 2020 to $1.142 billion by the close of 2024. State bodies and institutional development agencies hailed the achievement as definitive proof that Kazakhstan has transformed into Central Asia’s premier digital powerhouse. But beneath the headline billion-dollar figure lies a complex accounting reality: how much of this revenue was generated by indigenous Kazakhstani tech founders, and how much represents international corporate relocation?
The 34-Fold Surge: Official Balance of Payments Data
According to National Bank balance of payments data, cross-border IT services revenue expanded exponentially:
- 2020: $33.5 million
- 2021: $60.07 million
- 2022: $337.0 million (a 5.6-fold surge)
- 2023: $529.0 million
- 2024: $1.142 billion (surpassing official government targets a year ahead of schedule)
Astana Hub Accounts for Over Half of the Total
More than half of the $1.142 billion total was booked through residents of the Astana Hub International Technopark. In 2024, Astana Hub residents generated $633.8 million in export volume (roughly 55% of the national total). This concentration is directly driven by Astana Hub’s zero-tax regime (0% corporate income tax, 0% VAT, and 0% personal income tax on resident IT employees), making it an attractive domicile for regional tech companies.
However, Astana Hub’s resident roster consists of over 1,500 enterprises, spanning three distinct cohorts:
- Homegrown Kazakhstani startups: Indigenous teams founded in Almaty or Astana building software products from scratch;
- International IT outsourcing branches: Development delivery centers for global systems integrators such as EPAM Systems;
- Relocated multinational tech enterprises: Well-established international companies that shifted legal headquarters or holding structures to Kazakhstan following the 2022 geopolitical shifts.
Can inDrive and Dodo Pizza Be Classified as Kazakhstani IT Exports?
Global ride-hailing and mobility unicorn inDrive transferred its principal operational hub to Almaty in 2022, securing Astana Hub residency. Operating across dozens of countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa, inDrive generates hundreds of millions of dollars in cross-border marketplace transactions. When these software service revenues flow through Kazakhstani resident corporate entities, they legally qualify as Kazakhstani IT exports under standard balance-of-payments methodology.
Similarly, multinational foodservice tech franchise Dodo Brands relocated its international holding company to the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). While physical retail pizza sales do not constitute software exports, global franchise management software, POS SaaS subscriptions, and proprietary supply-chain royalties billed from Kazakhstan to foreign master franchisees can enter balance-of-payments IT accounting.
“Registered in Kazakhstan” vs. “Created in Kazakhstan”
This accounting nuance highlights the fundamental distinction between corporate residency and domestic economic creation. Official statistics capture export receipts received by resident entities from non-residents, but leave critical economic questions unanswered:
- Where was the core intellectual property originally conceived and engineered?
- What percentage of software engineering staff is permanently employed within Kazakhstan?
- How much export revenue remains inside Kazakhstan’s banking system versus being repatriated abroad?
- How much was paid in local payroll and domestic vendor contracts?
Attributing the entire $1.14 billion to indigenous startups would be misleading. At the same time, dismissing relocated corporate presence is equally flawed: relocated tech giants lease local real estate, employ thousands of local engineers, inject foreign currency, and invigorate domestic tech meetups.
Who Accounts for the Remaining $508 Million?
If Astana Hub residents generated $633.8 million, approximately $508 million was generated by non-hub enterprises across Kazakhstan. This cohort includes telecommunication carriers, banking tech subsidiaries, custom software dev houses, and industrial engineering contractors. Yet state reports provide no disaggregated data revealing company names, market shares, or foreign-vs-domestic capital ratios.
Conclusion: Beyond the Headline Billion-Dollar Metric
Reaching $1.142 billion in digital service exports is a remarkable achievement that underscores Kazakhstan’s emergence as an attractive Eurasian jurisdiction. However, true maturity in digital policy requires transparent granularity: distinguishing indigenous startup output from multinational relocation receipts. Celebrating aggregate totals is gratifying; understanding their exact anatomical composition is what enables effective economic strategy.
