UBTech Plans to Advance a US$440 Million Robotics Project in Kazakhstan

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 25, Kazakhstan's NERO Group disclosed that a robot localization production project being advanced in cooperation with China's UBTech Robotics is planned to involve investment of approximately US$440 million. The project will be located in the "Innovative Technology Park" special economic zone in Almaty, covering the production of educational robots, service robots, and humanoid robots, as well as R&D, software programming, and production infrastructure construction. According to the latest investment structure disclosed by NERO Group, approximately US$340 million will be used to introduce UBTech's humanoid robot production technology, while approximately US$100 million will be invested by NERO Group.

The project's production and R&D center covers an area of approximately 25,000 square meters and is currently under construction. In the first phase, production of educational robot kits will begin in October 2026, with a planned annual production capacity of 50,000 kits. According to the requirements of the Almaty city government, the first batch of products will enter 30 local schools, and by 2028 the scope of application is planned to be expanded to more than 200 schools.

Localized production of service robots and humanoid robots is planned to begin in the second quarter of 2027, with a planned annual production capacity of 1,000 units. In addition to hardware assembly, the project will also carry out software development in Kazakhstan and conduct robot application R&D around scenarios such as education, commercial services, industrial production, and logistics.

UBTech will provide the cooperative project with teaching materials, software, engineering solutions, and AI education and service robot production technology, while NERO Group will be responsible for providing local production capacity, technical personnel, and operational support. The two sides also plan to jointly carry out robotics technology R&D and talent cultivation with universities such as Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and Satbayev University.

Cooperation between the two sides began in November 2025. In July 2026, the Almaty city government, NERO Group, and UBTech signed a cooperation agreement on artificial intelligence and robotics technology, proposing the establishment of a joint production system in Almaty. A previously announced government cooperation plan proposed that the two sides would complete a joint market study before the end of 2026 and conduct an economic assessment of the localized production of service robots for the Kazakhstani and Central Asian markets.