Plans are underway to launch humanoid robot production in Astana at the Astana Hub International Technology Park, Minister of Digital Development and Artificial Intelligence Zhaslan Madiev announced at a government meeting.
According to Madiev, Astana Hub remains a key institution for fostering innovative entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan. The technology park runs acceleration programs, including AI’preneurs, aimed at launching startups in the field of artificial intelligence. Since September 2024, 35 AI startups have been established through the program’s three cohorts.
In collaboration with the city authorities, the Astana Innovations Accelerator program is also being implemented. It focuses on integrating startups into urban infrastructure and helping them secure commercial contracts. Following a competitive selection process, eight projects have received funding.
The minister also reported that an “Exponential Cluster” is being developed at the technology park, an innovation platform designed to bring together science, startups, and industry. As part of this initiative, a network of technology centers is being created, covering areas such as robotics, unmanned systems, cybersecurity, medicine, and industrial applications.
A humanoid robotics laboratory has already been launched at the Robotics Center. Projects include the development of teleoperation systems for robot control and the integration of robots with the AlemLLM language model for user interaction.
Special attention is being given to unmanned technologies. According to Madiev, Kazakhstan plans to launch a pilot project for autonomous vehicles involving international companies in the second quarter of 2026. A separate private initiative to deploy delivery drones is also underway.
At the Drone Center, construction of a “phygital” arena, combining physical and digital environments, and infrastructure for training unmanned aerial vehicle operators is nearing completion. All Astana Hub technology centers are expected to be operational by the end of the year.
The ministry expects the cluster to support the launch of up to 500 startups annually, including more than 100 hardware projects, and to position Astana as a regional innovation hub.
According to official data, by 2025 Astana Hub residents had created more than 32,500 jobs. A total of 537 companies export IT services to 111 countries, with export volumes reaching $681 million, an increase of 44% compared to the previous year.
The Times of Central Asia previously reported that the Chinese company AgiBot plans to launch the production and deployment of industrial robots in Kazakhstan.
