On 24 August 2026 the first building of the Aksis carbide cutting tool plant, part of the Instrument group, opened on the state site of the Kulibin special economic zone in Dzerzhinsk. It was the first production launch on the zone's state site since its founding.[1]

The opening ceremony

The opening was attended by the Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov, the governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region Gleb Nikitin and the chairman of the regional Legislative Assembly Evgeny Lyulin.[1] Nikitin announced the event on his channel, noting that the facility had been built in less than two years.[2]

Production

The plant has set up full-cycle production of carbide cutting tools and tooling: rods, milling cutters, inserts and drills for mechanical engineering, the car industry, electronics and the defence sector. The products are entered in the register of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and included in import substitution plans and the list of priority products.[2][1]

The building now in operation is the first phase of the project. In time the industrial complex will comprise three buildings with a total area of 64,000 square metres, housing equipment assembly shops and an engineering centre. The company also plans to create a regional machine tool cluster on the territory of the Kulibin zone.[1][2]

Investment and funding

Investment in the first phase came to 1.389 billion roubles, and total investment in the project will exceed 3.5 billion roubles, creating more than four hundred jobs.[1] For the purchase of equipment the enterprise received more than 965 million roubles in soft loans from the federal and regional industrial development funds.[2][1]

Context

According to governor Nikitin, as of August 2026 the Kulibin zone had 58 resident companies, half of them running projects in chemicals and petrochemicals. Several more production facilities were expected to open on the site before the end of 2026.[2][1]

Sources

  1. nn.aif.ru — First plant launched at the Kulibin special economic zone of Nizhny Novgorod Region (archived)
  2. Vremya N — Nikitin and Alikhanov open the first plant on the state site of the Kulibin zone (archived)
  3. bfm.ru — Production of carbide tools launched in Nizhny Novgorod Region (archived)
  4. dzertv.ru — The first enterprise at the Kulibin site: Aksis launches tool production — Dzerzhinsk Television (archived)