IBI Director and TDD-Global Founder Liu Junzhai Attends Kazakhstan–China High-Tech Enterprises Roundtable and Signs MoU with the City of Almaty

On the morning of July 16, the Kazakhstan–China High-Tech Enterprises Roundtable was held at The Peninsula Shanghai. His Excellency Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, attended the event and delivered an address. Liu Junzhai, Director of IBI and Founder of TDD-Global, was invited to attend the meeting. As an important high-level bilateral government–business forum held in conjunction with the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, the roundtable focused on key areas of cooperation between Kazakhstan and China, including artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, new energy and data centers.

During the meeting, Liu Junzhai and Olzhas Mukhtarovich Smagulov, Deputy Mayor of Almaty, jointly signed the Memorandum of Cooperation on Digital and Intelligent Transformation. Leveraging IBI’s core strengths in “platforms, technology and data,” the agreement will comprehensively advance the implementation of strategic cooperation in the digital economy across Central Asia and contribute to the joint development of the Digital Silk Road. It also marks a new milestone in IBI’s strategic cooperation in Kazakhstan, as the partnership moves from the establishment of its local headquarters toward comprehensive and deeper cooperation.

Under the Memorandum, the two parties intend to establish a long-term strategic partnership, with the IBI Kazakhstan Digital Economy Headquarters serving as the principal platform for implementation. Focusing on the development of Almaty’s digital economy and the intelligent transformation of its industries, the parties will deeply integrate the Almaty municipal government’s strengths in policy coordination, urban governance, industrial resources and public services with IBI’s practical experience in the industrial internet and its digital capabilities. Together, they will identify, evaluate and advance cooperative projects with demonstrative value.

The Memorandum outlines three priority areas of cooperation. First, the parties will focus on AI computing infrastructure and computing service systems and explore the planning and development of an intelligent computing center or city-level computing service platform in Almaty, covering heterogeneous computing resource scheduling, data security, model training and inference, and industrial AI applications. Second, they will advance cooperation in industrial digitalization by exploring solutions for Almaty’s key industries, industrial parks and enterprises, including smart factories, industrial internet and supply chain collaboration, industrial large models, a regional industrial brain and data asset operations. Third, leveraging Almaty’s strengths as a transportation and trade hub, the parties will promote cooperation in smart warehousing, road–rail–air multimodal transport, intelligent scheduling, logistics visualization and China–Kazakhstan cross-border trade, supporting the development of a smart logistics and supply chain service hub serving Central Asia.

On July 8, the IBI Kazakhstan Digital Economy Headquarters was officially launched in Almaty, while the “Xianfeng Qihang” Going-Global Service Liaison Station (Kazakhstan Station) was unveiled concurrently. Speaking at the launch ceremony, Qian Xiaojun, Founder and CEO of IBI, said that the headquarters would serve as a core strategic hub for Central Asia and leverage three major strengths—platform traffic, digital technology and full-industry-chain resources—to build a bridge for economic and trade cooperation between China and Kazakhstan. Liu Junzhai outlined six priority areas through which the headquarters would serve the wider Central Asian region: the industrial internet, modern agricultural collaboration, the intensive processing of mineral resources, smart cross-border logistics between Horgos and Almaty, bilateral industrial investment and joint ventures, and one-stop business services for enterprises expanding overseas.

The signing of the Memorandum not only institutionalizes and consolidates the achievements of the headquarters’ launch but also elevates cooperation between the two parties from project implementation to strategic planning. Going forward, IBI will continue to leverage its Kazakhstan headquarters as a strategic hub, further integrate itself into the industrial development of Almaty and Kazakhstan, empower the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries through its industrial internet capabilities, and strengthen the foundation for mutually beneficial China–Kazakhstan cooperation through sustainable partnerships.