How Microelectronics Supply Chains Are Changing in Central Asia

In recent years, Kazakhstan has emerged as one of Eurasia’s key transit hubs for high-technology goods. Alongside rising trade volumes, however, new risks have intensified: counterfeit components, opaque origins, and supply-chain disruptions. As a result, the authenticity of electronic components is no longer a routine operational issue – it has become a matter of technological and industrial security.

The rapid growth of high-tech transit flows through Central Asia has pushed the problem of component authenticity to the forefront. Counterfeits, fragmented logistics, and limited traceability are transforming electronic component supply chains into a critical risk domain. An industry-level analysis of these challenges – and the possible responses, from digital component passports to integrated supply-chain risk management systems – is presented by Alexander Litvin, an expert in electronic component supply chains.

The Problem: Counterfeits Grow Alongside Transit

Global electronic component supply chains have faced unprecedented turbulence in recent years. Shortages, logistics disruptions, and counterfeit risks have become persistent challenges. According to data cited by international monitoring organizations such as ERAI and IDEA, the share of suspicious or counterfeit components in global supply chains is estimated at 5–7%.

For Kazakhstan, these risks scale directly with transit growth. Data from Kazakhstan’s public revenue authorities indicate that in 2023–2024, transit operations involving high-technology goods increased by 32%, while electronic components grew by more than 18%. Market participants estimate that Kazakhstan now accounts for a double-digit share of regional electronic component flows within Central Asia.

«Kazakhstan sits at the intersection of several major routes – from China to Russia, the EAEU, Central Asia, and the Middle East,» Litvin explains. «When volumes grow at this pace, counterfeit risk stops being abstract. A single fake component in a critical system can halt production or create safety threats – not just financial losses.»

A Shift in Approach: From Procurement to End-to-End Control

Industry practice is evolving. In the past, procurement followed a simple logic: select a supplier, purchase, and deliver. Today, industrial customers increasingly demand full visibility across the entire chain – from manufacturing to installation.

Current supply-chain analytics highlight three core elements without which reliable electronic component supply systems cannot function:

• Independent laboratory verification – authenticity and quality testing before components enter production;
• Digital traceability – electronic component passports capturing origin, storage conditions, and logistics history;
• Risk-oriented management – multisourcing strategies, disruption forecasting, and flexible supplier switching.

In several jurisdictions, including Russia, formal frameworks for qualified suppliers serving critical infrastructure sectors – energy, aerospace, advanced manufacturing – have been established. These frameworks impose stringent authenticity and traceability requirements, shaping multi-layer control practices across the industry.

Practical Results: Measurable Effects

According to Litvin, integrated digital supply-chain models already demonstrate tangible operational effects in industrial environments.

Operational assessments of industrial projects implementing unified digital control frameworks show:

• a 70% reduction in request processing time;
• a 92% decrease in communication-related costs;
• an increase in the digital traceability index from 0.39 to 0.72;
• a 7–8 percentage point reduction in claims and returns.

By integrating claims analytics with digital traceability and logistics risk modules, companies are able to anticipate disruptions before they materialize. In several industrial contexts, this approach reduced operational costs by 12–18% during periods of global component shortages.

A number of analytical methods developed by Litvin within these projects have been published in industry and academic outlets and are referenced in educational programs and internal corporate standards within industrial organizations.

CILM: An Integrated Risk-Management Framework

Litvin’s analytical work applies the CILM concept – a laboratory-digital ecosystem for trusted electronics that integrates authenticity control, digital component passports, and market risk balancing.

The framework combines three interconnected layers:

1. Laboratory layer – independent verification of electronic components;
2. Digital layer – electronic passports and risk analytics;
3. Market layer – redistribution of surplus and deficit, returning unused components to industrial circulation.

«The concept emerged from practice,» Litvin notes. «Manufacturers face three simultaneous challenges: verifying authenticity, tracking components, and avoiding excess inventory. These tasks are often handled by separate systems. CILM integrates laboratory verification, digital passports, and market mechanisms into a single risk-management approach.»

Importantly, this is not positioned as a specific IT product, but as a governance model for managing supply-chain risks in transit-oriented economies.

Industry observers suggest that the adoption of such models could enable Central Asia to develop a trusted-electronics infrastructure comparable in strategic importance to physical logistics hubs.

Cross-Border Expertise and Regional Evaluation

In 2025, Litvin joined the jury of the international Business Leaders of Central Asia award, evaluating innovation projects from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

«This role allows me to observe how companies across the region address similar challenges – from digitalization to quality management,» he says. «Expert evaluation complements practical risk analysis and supports the development of comparable standards across cross-border markets.»

The involvement of experts from multiple countries reflects the emergence of a shared regional professional space, where analytical methodologies and governance standards increasingly operate beyond national boundaries.

Outlook: Why Kazakhstan Has Leadership Potential

According to Litvin, Kazakhstan has several structural advantages that could position it as a regional leader in trusted electronics systems.

«First, geography – Kazakhstan is physically located between major electronics producers and consumers. Second, the state’s ambition to develop the country as a Eurasian transit hub requires corresponding quality-control infrastructure. Third, local manufacturers and integrators face the same global challenges, but they can adopt new standards faster, without the burden of legacy systems.»

Within the EAEU framework, harmonized standards for verification and digital component passports become especially important as components move freely across borders. Analytical models tested in one jurisdiction can inform practices in others.

Over the next three to five years, experts suggest that Kazakhstan could become a key center for implementing such systems in Eurasia. Transit position, digitalization policies, and growing industrial demand all support this trajectory.

Digital component passports are evolving from IT tools into core instruments of industrial risk management. For transit economies, these systemic solutions increasingly define supply-chain resilience and technological security.

Alexander Litvin is Regional Development Director at JSC SpecEK. He is a laureate of the National Business Award 2025 in the category Technology Management Expert of the Year, author of industry and academic publications on electronic component supply chains, and a regular jury member of international industry awards across Central Asia and Eastern Europe.