BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 2. Chinese artificial intelligence company iFLYTEK officially launched its Central Asia Open Platform in Tashkent, marking the company’s entry into the regional market and underscoring Uzbekistan’s ambitions to become a technology hub.
This was reflected in the statement published by the Ministry of Digital Technologies of Uzbekistan.
The launch event brought together representatives of government institutions, international companies, the IT sector and foreign partners, highlighting growing interest in artificial intelligence development across Central Asia.
Ahead of the opening ceremony, Uzbekistan’s Minister of Digital Technologies Sherzod Shermatov visited an exhibition featuring iFLYTEK’s latest AI products and digital solutions.
At the event, Richard Yu presented the company’s Spark large language model, multilingual AI systems, voice recognition and speech synthesis technologies, as well as AI-driven business applications and the company’s open developer platform.
"The development of the digital economy and artificial intelligence remains one of Uzbekistan’s key national priorities," Shermatov said during the opening ceremony.
He added that ongoing reforms have helped sustain strong economic growth, improve the investment climate and strengthen the country’s position in international rankings.
"We aim to make Uzbekistan a regional hub for global technology companies by continuing to invest in artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure and innovation ecosystems," Shermatov said.
Shermatov welcomed iFLYTEK’s decision to establish its regional platform in Uzbekistan, saying the move would create new opportunities for local technology companies, startups and software developers while accelerating AI ecosystem development.
William Zhou said the company remains focused on supporting developers and expanding access to AI technologies.
"Our open platform is designed to strengthen collaboration with developers and contribute to building a strong innovation ecosystem across Central Asia," Zhou said.
The event concluded with live demonstrations of iFLYTEK’s AI-powered products, including multilingual systems, intelligent AI agents and digital services tailored for the Central Asian market.
