Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation announced a partnership with semiconductor giant Nvidia on Monday to build artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for the country.
Nvidia – which hit a $5 trillion valuation in October, making it the world’s largest company by market capitalization – is a US-based semiconductor firm that designs graphics processing units (GPUs) and AI chips used in everything from gaming to data centers and autonomous vehicles.
In its press release, the ministry said its goal is to train and support the local startup ecosystem and specialists, conduct joint research projects, and develop Ukraine’s AI infrastructure using Nvidia’s expertise.
The first project would be a Ukrainian large-language model (LLM) trained to provide government services based on Ukrainian legislation, integrated into Kyiv’s Diia e-government portal, it says.
“The first joint project will be the development of Diia AI LLM – a sovereign language model adapted to Ukrainian legislation, public services, and citizens’ needs,” the ministry wrote.
“All artificial intelligence services in the Diia ecosystem will operate on the basis of Diia AI LLM, in particular, the AI assistant already presented on the portal, the future assistant in the mobile application, and internal solutions for the government,” it added.
An LLM, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, is a computer program trained on vast amounts of text to learn language patterns and generate human-like responses by predicting which words should come next – similar to a supercharged version of smartphone autocomplete.
According to the ministry, Ukraine will gain access to Nvidia’s full AI software stack, expert support and technical guidance to speed up model development and reduce costs as part of the LLM project.
The ministry said the ultimate goal is to build a “sovereign AI state,” with Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov calling it “a matter of national security and data protection,” since a closed AI system would let Kyiv avoid relying solely on external contractors, reducing the risk of data leaks like those caused by Microsoft vulnerabilities in US government systems.
“Its goal is to create a sovereign AI state with its own infrastructure and strong human resources,” the press release says.
The press release added that the partnership complements an ongoing initiative to create an “AI Factory” in Ukraine, with the strategic aim of making the country one of the world’s top three AI leaders by 2030.