China accounted for nearly 30% of all enterprises with foreign investment operating in Uzbekistan as of August 1, 2026, making it the country's largest source of foreign-invested businesses amid rapidly expanding economic ties between the two countries. This was reflected in data published by Uzbekistan's National Statistics Committee. A total of 20,973 enterprises with foreign investment were operating in Uzbekistan as of August 1, including 6,241 with Chinese participation.
Of the overall total, 4,685 were joint ventures and 16,288 were foreign-owned enterprises. Russia ranked second with 3,512 enterprises, followed by Türkiye with 2,327. Kazakhstan accounted for 1,321 enterprises, South Korea for 730 and Afghanistan for 706.
Azerbaijan ranked seventh with 492 enterprises. Azerbaijan ranked seventh with 492 enterprises, followed by Tajikistan with 467, the UAE with 453 and India with 439. Trend's analysis shows that Uzbekistan's foreign-invested enterprise base remains concentrated among its largest economic partners.
China, Russia and Turkey together accounted for 12,080 enterprises, or about 57.6% of the total. China alone represented approximately 29.8% of all foreign-invested enterprises in Uzbekistan, meaning that nearly three out of every 10 such companies had Chinese participation. The scale of Chinese business activity reflects the broader acceleration in economic ties between the two countries.
Bilateral trade reached $17.8 billion in 2025, up 34% year on year, while Chinese direct investment in Uzbekistan increased fivefold to $17 billion, according to Uzbekistan's Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade. More than 6,000 enterprises with Chinese capital were operating in the country as of July 2026. Trend's calculations show that the 6,241 Chinese-invested enterprises recorded by the National Statistics Committee account for about 29.8% of Uzbekistan's entire foreign-invested enterprise base.
The figure is also substantially higher than the 4,731 Chinese-invested enterprises reported as of November 2025, indicating continued rapid expansion of Chinese business presence. The growth extends beyond the number of companies. According to the Eurasian Development Bank, China's FDI stock in Uzbekistan rose from just $284 million in 2016 to $10.7 billion in the first half of 2025.
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