US or China? Why Kazakhstan refuses to pick sides as it eyes AI revolution

Driving along the wide boulevards of Astana during a recent trip to the Kazakh capital, signs of China’s growing commercial footprint were everywhere.

Chinese cars were becoming a common sight on the streets here, as brands from BYD to Changan made aggressive inroads in a market once dominated by South Korea’s Hyundai and Kia, said the driver who picked me up from the airport in a gleaming Changan electric vehicle.

But it was not the rise of Chinese tech that had brought me to this energy-rich pocket of Central Asia; it was an American giant.