Closer ties between Astana and Beijing are transforming Kazakhstan from an East-West transit corridor into a regional platform for the deployment of Chinese technologies.

Nasdaq-listed Freedom Holding Corp (Nasdaq: FRHC) and its founder, Timur Turlov, are among the most visible beneficiaries of this shift. The company is gaining access to technology from leading Chinese businesses while building the infrastructure needed to adapt and scale it across Central Asia.

The Shanghai Agreements

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s working visit to Shanghai, held alongside the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, marked one of the largest business events in the history of Kazakhstan-China relations.

During talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and meetings with Chinese business leaders, companies from the two countries signed more than 70 commercial agreements worth a combined $15bn.

The agreements cover artificial intelligence, digitalization, transport, finance, agriculture, advanced manufacturing, and other high-tech sectors. They also reflect a broader shift in bilateral cooperation away from traditional commodity and infrastructure projects toward technology, data, and modern industry.

Kazakhstan is seeking to make use of both its strategic position between China and Europe and its growing domestic technology market. The government offers investors infrastructure, energy capacity, preferential investment terms, and a skilled workforce. It is also supporting local companies that can work with international partners and adapt their technology to Central Asian markets.

One major proposal is the construction, in partnership with CATL, of Central Asia’s first large electric-vehicle battery plant. The project could create an integrated value chain ranging from raw-material processing to finished batteries.

Kazakhstan has also become a production base for Chinese automotive brands including JAC, Changan, Great Wall Motor, and Chery.

Energy is another area of cooperation. Kazakhstan and China Communications Construction Company are exploring the construction of the country’s first pumped-storage hydroelectric plant. The proposed 600-MW facility in the Almaty Region would store surplus electricity and help stabilize the power grid as renewable-energy generation increases.

Trade, investment and transit

The expanding technology partnership is supported by a rapidly growing economic relationship. Trade between Kazakhstan and China reached a record $49bn last year, while total Chinese investment in Kazakhstan has exceeded $30bn. The country is now home to about 8,500 Chinese-invested companies.

China remains Kazakhstan’s largest trading partner and one of its main sources of industrial capital and technology.

Kazakhstan is also strengthening its position as a land bridge between China and Europe. Around 85% of rail freight between the two markets passes through its territory. However, the government wants to generate value beyond transit fees.

Its Smart Cargo platform is intended to combine customs, logistics, and commercial procedures within a single digital system.

The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), or Middle Corridor, is also gaining importance. China’s Guoyou Materials Group plans to build a multifunctional terminal at the Kazakh port of Kuryk with an annual capacity of up to 15mn tonnes.

The two sides are also considering a joint dredging venture in the Caspian Sea to maintain navigable depths and increase freight volumes between China, the Caucasus, Turkey, and Europe.

From raw materials to digital exports

Kazakhstan has traditionally depended on exports of oil, gas, metals, and other raw materials. It is now trying to broaden its economic model by investing in IT, digital finance, artificial intelligence, and data infrastructure.

In 2025, exports of Kazakhstani IT services reached $1.142 billion - over 2.6 times the amount spent on imported digital solutions. Kazakhstan's technology products are now exported to over 110 countries.

The country is also building data centres, cloud infrastructure, and computing clusters. These facilities are intended to support AI development, financial platforms, public services, and export-oriented technology companies.

Freedom Holding operates at the intersection of this government strategy, Chinese technology, and Kazakh private capital.

Freedom as a technology bridge

During the visit to Shanghai, Turlov met senior executives from Alibaba Cloud, Ant Group, Tencent, Baidu, and Geely. The discussions produced agreements covering cross-border payments, cloud computing, autonomous transport, electric vehicles, and agricultural technology.

“What impressed me most was not any individual technology, but how profoundly China has changed in recent years, how modern it has become, and how much progress it has achieved. In China, a significant part of the future has already become part of everyday life,” Turlov said after the trip.

One of the most commercially important agreements involves integrating Alipay and WeChat Pay with Freedom Bank’s payment infrastructure.

Users in Kazakhstan would be able to pay for goods in China and on Chinese online platforms directly in tenge through the Freedom SuperApp. Chinese visitors, in turn, would be able to use Alipay and WeChat Pay at Freedom Bank terminals in Kazakhstan.

Freedom is also working with Alibaba Cloud to develop services hosted at the Akashi Data Center, which is under construction in Astana. The partnership includes cloud technology, engineer training, and digital products designed for the wider Central Asian market.

Another potential project is the introduction of driverless taxis using Baidu’s Apollo Go platform. Turlov has said that the goal is to combine Baidu’s technology with local engineering, mapping, payment services, and market expertise.

“By combining their technology with our knowledge and engineering capabilities, we will be able to create a unique service for our country. Through partnerships like these, Kazakhstan can become a regional leader in robotaxis,” Turlov said.

Together with Geely and its partner SK, Freedom also plans to develop a national network of fast-charging stations for electric vehicles. The stations would be integrated with the Freedom SuperApp, while some equipment could be manufactured locally.

This would give Freedom a role in several parts of the electric-vehicle market, including charging management, payments, vehicle financing, and insurance.

The company is also exploring the local production of Chinese agricultural drones for crop monitoring, precision farming, and crop treatment. At the same time, it is testing its own drone-delivery technology in several major Kazakh cities.

“We would like to adopt the best practices developed in China’s manufacturing sector and see similarly advanced technological solutions in our own country,” Turlov said.

He added that the relationship should work in both directions. “We can combine our product expertise and software solutions with China’s technological and industrial capabilities,” he stated.

Building local infrastructure

Freedom is positioning itself not simply as a distributor of Chinese technology, but as an operator of local digital infrastructure.

The company employs more than 2,500 engineers and developers in Kazakhstan. Their task is to adapt imported technology to the country’s regulatory, linguistic, payment, and infrastructure requirements.

The Akashi Data Center has already become a platform for cooperation with China Mobile International, which selected it as a strategic cloud base in Central Asia. The companies are considering joint cloud services, AI-model hosting, and industry-specific computing hubs.

Freedom is also involved in plans for a sovereign AI centre in Kazakhstan costing up to $2bn. The proposed AI Hub would use NVIDIA computing architecture and require around 100 MW of available power. Freedom is being considered as a principal financial and infrastructure partner.

The model brings together several parties: Chinese companies provide industrial equipment and technology, NVIDIA supplies computing architecture, and Kazakhstan contributes energy, land, government support, and skilled workers. Freedom connects these resources with finance, telecommunications, and its digital ecosystem.

Kazakhstan’s answer to WeChat

The Freedom SuperApp is at the centre of that ecosystem. Like China’s WeChat, it brings financial and everyday services together in a single application, adapted to Kazakhstan’s digital environment.

Users can manage accounts and cards, make payments, take out loans, invest, access brokerage services, and obtain insurance. They can also buy tickets, book travel, order groceries, shop online, and use household and loyalty services.

The platform is connected to nearly 100 government and commercial data sources.

In less than two years, the SuperApp’s user base reached 5.67mn. By the end of March 2026, Freedom’s wider ecosystem served more than 14mn clients, including 5.03mn banking customers and 858,000 brokerage clients.

The agreements with Chinese companies could expand the SuperApp further. Ant Group and Tencent add cross-border payments, Baidu could provide transport services, and Geely could bring charging infrastructure. Alibaba Cloud and China Mobile would support the underlying cloud and computing systems.

Each partnership therefore strengthens not only an individual product, but the ecosystem as a whole.

Expanding beyond Kazakhstan

Freedom’s next goal is to take the model developed in Kazakhstan into larger international markets.

In Europe, the company operates the Freedom24 brokerage platform, which reports more than 400,000 investors. In June 2026, Freedom applied for a banking licence in France and said it was prepared to invest €500mn in a digital bank and supporting infrastructure.

If approved, the licence could allow Freedom to offer banking services throughout the European Union. Its long-term goal is to attract as many as 50mn European customers.

Turkey is another important market. Freedom has received approval to launch Freedom Yatırım, while Turkish banking and competition authorities have authorised its acquisition of a 99.32% stake in Turkish Bank.

After the transaction is completed, the company plans to combine banking, brokerage, and investment services on a single digital platform. Freedom intends to invest around $300mn in its Turkish operations. With a population of almost 90mn, Türkiye gives the company an opportunity to test whether its model can be replicated in a much larger and more competitive market.

The United States may follow. Freedom Holding is incorporated in Nevada, listed on Nasdaq, and already operates in the country through Prime Executions, an SEC-registered broker and a member of the New York Stock Exchange. Turlov has said that the company eventually intends to offer its wider ecosystem to American customers.

From a corridor to a platform

The relationship between Kazakhstan and China is changing. Oil pipelines, railways, and transit terminals remain important, but they are now being joined by AI, cloud computing, autonomous vehicles, digital payments, batteries, and agricultural technology.

Kazakhstan aims to become a platform where Chinese technology is adapted, combined with local software and expertise, and introduced across Central Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Freedom Holding and Timur Turlov are among the most visible beneficiaries of that shift, but their advantage lies not simply in closer relations between the two countries. It lies in Freedom’s ability to connect Chinese industrial and technological capabilities with Kazakhstan’s engineers, infrastructure, financial services, and millions of digital users.

If the model succeeds, Kazakhstan could eventually export its own digital ecosystem. Freedom, meanwhile, could grow from a financial group into an international technology platform built along the new Digital Silk Road.