SQB and Huawei Sign AI Cooperation Memorandum
Uzpromstroybank, known as SQB, and Huawei are expanding their strategic partnership into artificial intelligence, digital technologies and banking infrastructure.
The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding covering intelligent financial solutions, high-performance computing infrastructure and new digital services.
For SQB, the agreement represents another stage in its digital transformation.
The two organisations have already implemented network infrastructure projects together, while the new cooperation extends into AI and computing platforms.
The memorandum, however, is not yet a procurement contract for specific hardware or software.
Neither side has disclosed the investment value, implementation schedule or the first individual systems to be deployed.
SQB Wants to Move AI Into Core Banking Processes
The objective extends beyond introducing isolated AI tools.
SQB plans to use intelligent technologies to improve banking processes, develop new financial products and enhance customer experience.
In banking, AI can potentially support large-scale data analysis, document processing, risk assessment, fraud detection, personalised services and employee decision support.
The memorandum itself does not specify exactly which of these applications SQB will deploy first.
It is therefore more accurate to view the agreement as creating the technological foundation for future intelligent services rather than announcing an already completed AI platform.
High-Performance Computing Becomes a Core Part of the Project
A separate area of cooperation involves high-performance computing infrastructure.
Modern artificial intelligence models require substantially more processing capacity than traditional banking applications.
Large-scale data analysis, model training and generative AI increasingly require specialised computing resources.
This is changing the technical requirements for bank data centres.
Instead of relying only on conventional servers and applications, financial organisations increasingly need high-performance computing, large data-storage systems, resilient networks and platforms capable of managing AI workloads.
Huawei is already developing these technologies for financial institutions globally.
Huawei Works With More Than 7,100 Financial Customers
Huawei says it has worked in the financial industry for more than 16 years.
By the end of June 2026, the company had served more than 7,100 financial customers across more than 80 countries and regions.
These included 54 of the world’s top 100 banks.
Huawei also reports strategic partnerships with more than 80 major banks, insurers and securities companies.
Its financial technology portfolio covers data centres, networks, storage, cloud platforms, AI computing and digital customer engagement.
For SQB, the partnership therefore provides access not only to technology but also to experience gained from large-scale financial-sector deployments.
SQB Examines Chinese Banking Experience
During the memorandum ceremony, Huawei specialists presented examples of projects implemented in China’s financial sector.
The two sides examined how advanced technologies have been deployed and what results they produced.
This experience is relevant because Chinese banks are among the world’s largest users of mobile banking, automated financial platforms, data analytics and intelligent technologies.
For SQB, scaling is likely to be as important as selecting a particular technology.
One of the main challenges in banking AI is not developing a pilot but integrating it into daily operations involving thousands of employees and millions of customer transactions.
Uzbekistan Has Made Banking AI a National Priority
The SQB–Huawei partnership fits into Uzbekistan’s broader digital strategy.
The country has adopted an Artificial Intelligence Development Strategy through 2030.
Banking and finance are explicitly identified as priority sectors, with AI applications including fraud detection, creditworthiness assessment and market forecasting.
Uzbekistan is also developing high-capacity computing infrastructure for artificial intelligence projects.
In May 2026, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev again identified AI and digitalisation as tools for accelerating economic growth.
Under the Uzbekistan–2030 strategy, the country aims to increase exports of IT services and software products to $5 billion and enter the world’s top 30 countries in the UN E-Government Development Index.
SQB’s project is therefore part of a wider national technology programme rather than an isolated banking initiative.
SQB Is Building Its Own AI Team
The bank’s recent activity indicates that cooperation with Huawei is being supported by internal capability building.
During July, SQB advertised roles for specialists in artificial intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, Generative AI and MLOps.
The bank is developing teams focused on AI services and the automation of financial processes.
This is an important element of any large digital transformation.
Buying technology alone is unlikely to deliver sustainable results if an organisation lacks specialists capable of training models, controlling data quality, integrating algorithms and measuring their business impact.
External technology and internal expertise therefore need to develop together.
AI Could Change Customer Service
For customers, the most visible effects of banking AI are likely to appear in digital channels.
Algorithms can classify customer requests, recommend relevant products and help employees make decisions more quickly.
Generative AI can also support intelligent assistants that explain financial services or help staff search internal knowledge bases.
Document processing is another major opportunity.
Banks continue to handle large numbers of contracts, applications, statements and reports.
AI systems can extract relevant information from these documents and reduce manual work.
At scale, this can lower operating costs and shorten processing times.
Banking AI Requires Strict Data Protection
The wider use of artificial intelligence also creates greater information-security requirements.
Banks process personal information, payment data and confidential financial records.
AI infrastructure therefore needs clear controls over where information is stored, which systems can access it and how models use customer data.
This becomes particularly important with generative AI, where uncontrolled transmission of sensitive information to external platforms can create additional risks.
Financial institutions are consequently showing growing interest in controlled private or hybrid AI architectures.
The high-performance infrastructure planned by SQB and Huawei could provide the technical foundation for such an approach.
Banks Are Becoming Technology Companies
The SQB project reflects a much broader transformation.
Competition between banks is increasingly shifting from branch networks toward digital-service speed, data quality and the ability to automate decision-making.
Artificial intelligence is becoming one of the tools driving this competition.
The same change is visible across other industries. K2Cargo.News has previously examined how AI is transforming Europe’s logistics industry, where algorithms are already used for route planning, transport management and delay prediction.
Financial services are moving in a similar direction, although the requirements for reliability, regulation and data protection are considerably higher.
Huawei Gains Another Growth Point in Central Asia
The agreement also has regional importance for Huawei.
Central Asia is increasing investment in data centres, telecommunications networks and digital public services.
Uzbekistan, with a population of more than 38 million, is the region’s largest consumer market and is actively developing its fintech sector.
If SQB successfully scales the projects, its implementation could become a reference case for other financial institutions across Central Asia.
The partnership could therefore contribute not only to one bank’s transformation but also to the wider development of banking AI infrastructure in the region.
The Real Test Will Be Individual Projects
Signing a memorandum does not by itself guarantee large-scale AI deployment.
The next stage will require specific projects with measurable objectives, whether reducing transaction-processing time, cutting operating costs, improving customer service or controlling financial risk.
SQB will also need to determine its computing architecture, data-governance rules and mechanisms for controlling AI systems.
If the bank successfully moves from pilots to production-scale deployment, its cooperation with Huawei could become one of Uzbekistan’s more significant financial AI initiatives.
For now, the main significance of the agreement is the expansion in scope: a partnership that previously focused on network infrastructure is moving into artificial intelligence, computing systems and the next generation of digital banking.
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