Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on July 24 inaugurated Sky47, a new AI and cloud infrastructure platform built around the Karakoram-01 data center, as Pakistan moves to expand its domestic capacity for cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI).
The facility is located in Islamabad’s Capital Smart City. Karakoram-01, which has an initial capacity of 8.5 megawatts, brings together enterprise-grade data center infrastructure, sovereign cloud services, high-performance AI computing, cybersecurity and managed technology services under one platform.
Designed for AI-ready and mission-critical workloads, the data center is intended to allow government departments, financial institutions, telecommunications companies, healthcare organizations and technology businesses to host and operate critical systems within Pakistan.
Developed by Sky47 Limited, a majority-owned subsidiary of Mari Energies Limited through its wholly owned subsidiary Mari Technologies Limited.
Prime minister calls facility “awe-inspiring”
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Prime Minister Shehbaz described the facility as “awe-inspiring” and said it had been completed in record time. “The facility we have just visited is awe-inspiring,” he said.
The prime minister praised the engineers, experts and institutions involved in the project, saying its completion demonstrated the capabilities of Pakistan’s military and civilian sectors.
He also paid tribute to Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, whose leadership he credited in connection with the project.
Prime Minister Shehbaz said the facility demonstrated what could be achieved when state institutions worked together toward a shared national objective. He expressed confidence that if the same model of coordination and execution were replicated across other sectors, Pakistan could recover from past setbacks and build a more modern and forward-looking economy.
“This journey will not be easy, but it is certainly not impossible,” the prime minister said.
He also referred to Marka-e-Haq as an example of how determination, unity and national resolve could turn difficult challenges into opportunities.
Sky47 to provide domestic cloud and AI infrastructure
The facility is designed to provide organizations with the ability to host critical systems and data within Pakistan.
That could give organizations greater control over sensitive data and create domestic capacity for workloads that require high-performance computing, including artificial intelligence applications.
Sky47 is being positioned as a sovereign cloud platform, meaning its services are designed to support the domestic hosting and management of critical digital workloads. The platform could also reduce reliance on foreign cloud infrastructure for organizations that choose to host eligible workloads domestically.
Prime Minister Shehbaz said the facility would strengthen Pakistan’s digital security and technological self-reliance. “The data centre ‘offers impregnable security and… gives us this hope and encouragement that everything is doable provided we put our act together’,” the premier said.
He described the facility as “the future of Pakistan” and called it a “wonderful gift to the people of Pakistan.”
The prime minister also acknowledged the contributions of the Ministry of Information Technology, the IT Secretary and Chinese technology company ZTE, which served as a strategic technology partner for the project.
5MW Karachi data center planned
The Sky47 launch is expected to form part of a broader expansion of AI and cloud infrastructure across Pakistan. Prime Minister Shehbaz said similar facilities would be developed in Karachi and Lahore.
Sky47 is also developing a 5MW data center at Karachi’s Port Qasim, which is scheduled for completion in September.
The planned expansion comes as Pakistan seeks to increase domestic computing capacity and support the use of artificial intelligence across government, business and public services.
IT minister says infrastructure is key to AI growth
Minister for IT and Telecom Shaza Fatima Khawaja described the facility as “a step in the right direction,” saying it provided the infrastructure needed to support Pakistan’s emerging AI economy.
She said future opportunities across healthcare, agriculture, finance, education, public administration and national security would increasingly depend on access to high-performance computing.
“This is where Pakistan’s opportunity is extraordinary,” she said. “We’re a young nation, we’re a large nation, and we’re a nation of stunning human capability.”
Khawaja said Pakistan’s engineers, developers, researchers and entrepreneurs did not lack intelligence or ambition, but infrastructure.
She said the new data center would provide the foundation to move from infrastructure and model development to AI applications and, eventually, the delivery of AI capabilities “as a service” to meet national requirements.
The minister also highlighted recent steps taken under Prime Minister Shehbaz’s “Digital Nation Pakistan” vision, including the 5G spectrum auction, the expansion of undersea fiber capacity, right-of-way reforms aimed at improving broadband access, AI skills initiatives and support for AI startups through national incubation centers.
Khawaja cited estimates that global demand for data centers could triple by 2030, while power requirements could rise by 160% over the same period.
Pakistan’s data center sector expands
The Sky47 launch comes as Pakistan’s public and private sectors increase investment in data centers and AI infrastructure.
In November 2025, Telenor Pakistan, in partnership with Data Vault, launched what was described as Pakistan’s first locally hosted AI data center and sovereign AI cloud.
Last month, Quantum Global Data Centre, a venture of Gul Ahmed Energy Group, announced plans to develop a Tier III data center expected to become operational in 2027. The project is backed by an initial investment of $230 million, with Huawei Pakistan serving as a strategic partner.
The facility is expected to support a broader science and technology park focused on Pakistan’s digital transformation.
The government has also begun incorporating AI into public-sector operations. The Federal Board of Revenue, for example, has launched AI-based internal systems aimed at improving transparency, reducing human intervention and enhancing tax collection efficiency.
A data center was also inaugurated at NED University of Engineering and Technology in February 2025. University officials described it as the country’s first Tier III-certified data center designed to provide IT services to public and private-sector users.
A new phase for Pakistan’s digital infrastructure
With Karakoram-01, Pakistan now has a new large-scale facility designed specifically to support AI-ready and mission-critical workloads alongside sovereign cloud services.
The planned facilities in Karachi and Lahore would further expand the country’s domestic AI and cloud infrastructure if delivered as announced.
The impact of the investment will ultimately depend on the adoption of locally hosted services by government institutions and private-sector organizations, as well as the successful expansion of the wider network.
For Pakistan, however, the launch marks a significant development in the effort to build domestic capacity for cloud computing, artificial intelligence and secure digital services.
Prime Minister Shehbaz said he was hopeful that the same model of coordination and execution could be applied across other sectors.
He said, “if we follow this model, there is no reason — and I am absolutely convinced, more than ever before — that not only will we be able to make up for the losses of the past, but we will also create a new, dynamic and forward-looking Pakistan, which is the need of the hour.”
The launch of Karakoram-01 gives that ambition a physical foundation. The next stage will be expanding the infrastructure and turning the computing capacity into services used across Pakistan’s public institutions, businesses and emerging AI ecosystem.