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Pakistan Opens Sky47 Karakoram‑01, Its First AI‑Ready Sovereign Data Centre

Officials say the carrier‑neutral facility will boost digital sovereignty by keeping sensitive data in Pakistan and supplying high‑performance computing for AI applications.

Overview

  • Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir jointly inaugurated Sky47 Karakoram‑01 in Islamabad, with officials disclosing the launch on Friday, July 24, 2026.
  • Sky47 Limited, a majority‑owned unit of Mari Energies, told the Pakistan Stock Exchange the purpose‑built facility is Tier III–IV standard and has an initial operational capacity of 8.5 megawatts.
  • The centre uses a sovereign cloud architecture and multilayer enterprise security designed to host sensitive government, financial and commercial workloads inside Pakistan.
  • Government and military leaders credited coordinated military‑civil delivery and partners including ZTE and directed federal and provincial institutions to begin onboarding to the new facility.
  • Officials framed Karakoram‑01 as the first phase of a nationwide network with planned replications in Karachi and Lahore, while reporting notes practical limits such as power reliability and local talent that will shape how quickly domestic AI capacity grows.