What happened
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif inaugurated the Sky47 AI cloud and data centre in Rawalpindi on Friday, 24 July 2026, describing it as a major advance for Pakistan’s digital infrastructure and saying it offered “impregnable security”.
Addressing the ceremony, the prime minister called the facility “remarkable and truly inspiring” and said it had been built in record time by “the best minds from across Pakistan” in both the military and civilian sectors, The Express Tribune reported. He praised the leadership of Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir, who attended the event, and said the project showed “everything is doable provided we put our act together”.
Information Technology and Telecom Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja called the centre “a step in the right direction”, saying it gave Pakistan the foundation of an infrastructure capable of producing “the most important economic unit today: token intelligence”.
According to Sky47 Limited, a majority-owned subsidiary of Mari Energies Limited, the facility is designed to support artificial intelligence, machine learning and high-performance computing while helping protect sensitive national and commercial data. The company announced the launch, branded Karakoram-01, through a disclosure to the Pakistan Stock Exchange.
The company said the centre would provide sovereign cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence computing, cybersecurity, enterprise hosting and managed technology services, and would support critical workloads in government, banking, telecommunications, healthcare and technology.
Dawn reported that the facility was Pakistan’s first AI and cloud centre of its kind and, according to The News, has an initial capacity of 8.5 megawatts. The ceremony was also attended by federal ministers and senior officials, and the government named China’s ZTE as a strategic technology partner.
Why it matters
The launch is part of a push to localise data hosting and computing capacity as demand for artificial intelligence and cloud services grows, and as businesses and public institutions look for domestic infrastructure to manage sensitive digital operations. Officials presented the centre as a step towards technological self-reliance and improved cyber resilience.
The project also signalled deepening cooperation between civilian agencies and the military-run institutions that have overseen several large technology and infrastructure initiatives. The prime minister linked the data centre to an economic agenda, arguing that similar delivery could help Pakistan offset past losses and attract investment.
What is still uncertain
Sky47 Limited has not published details of the centre’s total cost, its full build-out timeline or how many customers it has signed. It is not yet clear how much of the capacity will serve government workloads or how pricing will compare with foreign cloud providers. Independent assessments of the security and performance claims were not available at the time of reporting.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a summary of published reporting, not independent reporting. Details are as carried by the cited sources, which were reviewed on 24 July 2026.
- The Express Tribune — "PM Shehbaz inaugurates Sky47 AI data centre, calls it step towards a 'forward-looking Pakistan'"24 July 2026 · The inauguration, the prime minister's remarks and the company's description of the facility.
- Dawn — "PM again urges Kabul to act against terrorist groups"24 July 2026 · Confirmation of the Sky47 AI cloud centre inauguration and the attendees.
