China's Shaanxi to invest $12 mln in manufacturing industrial drones in Kazakhstan
ASTANA. Jan 15 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan's Yesil Technology Company, a subsidiary of China's Shaanxi Kaizhuo Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., is planning to establish a plant to manufacture industrial drones in Kazakhstan, Yesil Technology Company CEO Chu Qi told Interfax on the sidelines of a drone presentation in Astana on Wednesday.
The project's first phase involves investing $12 million. Constructing a 50,000-square-meter production and research zone is set to begin in March 2025 in Astana. The facility will include a battery production workshop, an innovative technology research center, a full-cycle machinery storage area, and a drone testing ground as supported by the Kazakh Invest national company.
"Production capacity will initially be 300 drones per month, with plans to scale up based on market demand," Chu Qi, CEO of Yesil Technology, said, clarifying that the company will assemble drones to meet immediate market needs during the construction phase.
"We would like to transfer the entire production chain to Kazakhstan when the plant is fully completed, because Kazakhstan does not currently have this chain of drone production. We plan to localize production as much as possible, including either purchasing or mining raw materials in Kazakhstan," he said.
The company has not yet received applications from potential consumers, but is expecting a request from the Agriculture Ministry, Chu Qi said.
"Since Kazakhstan has great prospects - a large territory, though a small population of 20 million people - there are development prospects in this area," Chu Qi said.
Saken Kanybekov, acting chairman of the Agriculture Ministry's state inspection committee in the agro-industrial complex, said that the ministry used drones on 2,000 hectares of agricultural land in 2024.
"This was highly efficient, and we became interested in it. In 2024, we purchased 46 drones. In 2025, we plan to increase the number of drones for monitoring," Kanybekov told Interfax.
Moreover, state-owned Kazakhstan Engineering, which is considering possibly building a drone manufacturing plant in partnership with Chinese investors, expressed interest in collaborating with Yesil Technology Company.
"We are interested in finding investors and partners, and there are many proposals for international cooperation. Yesil Technology Company is also showing great interest and is now ready to invest large financial resources in developing Kazakhstan's economy. We are ready to act as partners for them. As manufacturers, we would like this [to consider the possibility to construct a plant to manufacture drones]. We will hold the second negotiations today," Artur Mosendz, Kazakhstan Engineering's head of investment attraction and technology transfer service, told Interfax.
JSC Kazakhstan Engineering National Company is a holding entity that unites machinery manufacturing plants in Kazakhstan that serve the country's defense sector. The Industry and Construction Ministry is the sole shareholder in the company.
