News

Local media report that Akashi Data Center in Astana is building four modules with 100 MW in total and about $354 million of investment, with China Mobile among its partners. The first 50 MW facility of Data Center Valley in Pavlodar Region is scheduled for June 2027, with potential to reach 1 GW. For Chinese cloud, telecom and AI computing firms, Kazakhstan offers new customer and partnership prospects.

On 25 September, at the Kazakhstan-China Investment Forum in Almaty, the Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK) and CCB Astana signed an agreement on preliminary terms for a credit line of up to 2 billion yuan (about $300 million). The money is earmarked for energy, industry and transport infrastructure, including joint Kazakhstan-China projects. DBK says the final amount, rate and tenor are still being negotiated and funds will be released as individual projects are approved. DBK placed a 3.7 billion yuan dim sum bond in early September.

Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry said at KIOGE 2026 on 1 October that the Shymkent refinery (PKOP) should grow from 6 to 12 million tonnes a year by 2030, with CNPC's East China Design Institute preparing the feasibility study. To supply it, a Kazakhstan-China pipeline expansion is being studied: five pumping stations, a 189 km loop, Kenkiyak-Atyrau to 15 million tonnes and Kenkiyak-Kumkol to 20 million tonnes a year. KMG cited the same figures in July. Cost, contractors and financing are undisclosed.

Kazakh carmaker Allur says assembly of Li Auto vehicles at its SaryarkaAvtoProm plant in Kostanay is due to begin in November 2026, Li Auto's first production outside China. Three hybrid models, the L6, L7 and L9, will be built first using semi-knocked-down (SKD) assembly, mainly for the domestic market. Design capacity is up to 10,000 vehicles a year, with about 200 jobs expected. The two companies signed a strategic cooperation agreement in July, when the L6, L8 and L9 were named. Prices and a timeline for deeper localisation have not been announced.

A consortium of Xinjiang Sanbao Industrial Group and Inner Mongolia Wanjiang Investment signed an agreement with the Abai regional administration at the Kazakhstan–China Investment Forum in Almaty on 25 September to build a 300,000-tonne-a-year electrolytic aluminium smelter and a 1 GW wind farm to power it. The smelter is put at about $1 billion, with construction planned from March 2027 to December 2028. The same consortium plans a $172 million particleboard plant in Semey with capacity of 2 million sheets a year, for 2027–2028. No construction has started yet.

Yonggang Central Asia Iron and Steel, part of China's Fujian Hengwang Investment, is building a full-cycle steel plant in the Jibek Joly special economic zone in Zhambyl region's Shu district. Environmental impact filings published in September put design capacity at up to 3 million tonnes a year, with a 1 Mt first phase due in 2027 and a second phase by 2029, using gas-based direct reduced iron and electric arc furnaces to make rebar and long products. Official statements give total investment as $1.2 billion in one case and $756 million in another.

China's State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) and project company Pavlodar Green Energy LLP are building a 1 GW wind farm near Ekibastuz in Kazakhstan's Pavlodar region, paired with a 300 MW/600 MWh energy storage system. Investment is put at about $1.2 billion and commissioning is planned for 2029. An investment agreement and a package of implementation documents were signed in January, construction began in late March, and on 10 September the Energy Ministry and SPIC discussed the next stage.

Construction of a Robotics & AI complex by Kazakhstan's QAZBOT Technologies and China's AgiBot began in Astana on 18 August; the company puts phase-one investment at about $200 million. At AI & Digital Bridge 2026 in early October, QAZBOT named three product lines: humanoid robots, robot dogs and service robots for malls and hotels, with pilots in Astana and Almaty. Completion dates, output volumes and job numbers have not been disclosed.

KAZAKH INVEST and Singapore-based ECG have discussed building an AI data center campus in Ekibastuz. The first phase would carry an IT load of about 100 MW, with room to expand to 1 GW. ECG is considering acting as investor, developer and owner, and taking part in operations.

Chinese customs data show China–Kazakhstan trade of USD 30.68 billion in January–August 2025, up 5.7% year on year, with Chinese exports at USD 19.4 billion and imports from Kazakhstan at USD 11.28 billion. The figures came out in September 2025. They help gauge the overall trend and the size of the Kazakh market for Chinese exporters, but they are a year old, so newer statistics are needed before any decision.

Kazakhstan Today reported on 25 September that NERO Group, together with China's UBTECH, could begin making educational robots as early as October in the Alatau Park of Innovative Technologies SEZ, at up to 50,000 kits a year, equipping about 30 Almaty schools by year-end. Localisation of service and humanoid robots begins only in the second quarter of 2027. For Chinese companies wanting to bring robotics and teaching equipment to Kazakhstan, it is a case where building has already started.

During Tokayev's stay in Shanghai on 16 July 2026, the two sides signed over 70 business agreements worth more than USD 15 billion, covering artificial intelligence, automotive, logistics and other sectors.