A proposed $200 million joint US-Israel quantum and artificial intelligence fund identifies Azerbaijan, along with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, as a potential expansion partner. The proposal, reported by Globes and The Jerusalem Post on July 14, 2025, was developed by Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and the AI and Quantum Sovereignty Lab (AIQ-Lab).
Under the plan, the United States and Israel would each contribute $100 million between 2026 and 2030 to fund collaborative quantum projects. After the initial establishment of the research center and the onboarding of existing Abraham Accords partners, “Central Asian countries such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan will also be added,” according to the Globes report.
Hadas Lorber, a former senior official in Israel’s National Security Council who leads the INSS project on Israel-US relations, said that Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan “have a strong interest in cooperating with Israel on technological advancement.” The fund would operate from offices in Tel Aviv and Arlington County, Virginia, and its structure would be modeled on existing bilateral research foundations such as the Israel-US Binational Science Foundation.