ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has signed a letter of understanding (LoU) with a local Google partner and a foreign company to establish a state-of-the-art Chromebook assembly line through a joint venture, the Press Information Department (PID) said on Tuesday.
Pakistan’s IT sector has been performing well in recent years, marking another all-time high record of $310 million in inflows in April.
Central bank data shows the country achieved 62 percent year-on-year growth in the sector. During the 10 months of the current fiscal year (10MFY24), IT exports clocked in at $2.59 billion, up by 21 percent annual basis as compared to $2.14 billion recorded in 10MFY23.
Pakistani IT exports are expected to rise to above $3.5 billion after the government allowed a retention limit from 35 percent to 50 percent in the Exporters’ Specialized Foreign Currency Accounts.
“In a major breakthrough, National Radio Telecom Corporation (NRTC) Pakistan, Allied Australian, and Tech Valley Pakistan signed a letter of understanding (LoU) at the Ministry of Federal Education, paving the way for a groundbreaking joint venture to establish a state-of-the-art Chromebook assembly line in Pakistan,” PID said in a statement on Tuesday.
Tech Valley Pakistan is a social enterprise and the official country partner of Google for Education, Google Workspace and Google Cloud in Pakistan.
The statement said the joint venture was aimed at harnessing the expertise, technology and market insights of each party to establish a world-class assembly line at NRTC and Haripur City in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after receiving regulatory approvals and infrastructure availability.
PID said the partnership would help boost the country’s technology sector, create new opportunities for economic growth, and generate employment.
“The assembly line will have an initial production capacity of 500,000 Chromebooks per year, which will be scaled up to one million per year,” the statement said, adding that the collaboration had the potential to transform Pakistan into a hub for technology manufacturing and innovation in the region.
In ‘major breakthrough,’ joint venture signed to establish Chromebook assembly line in Pakistan
https://arab.news/98mzk
In ‘major breakthrough,’ joint venture signed to establish Chromebook assembly line in Pakistan
- Production capacity to be scaled up from 500,000 to million Chromebooks per year
- Partnership expected to boost technology sector, generate employment, PID says
Pakistan plans $3,500 locally made electric car to lure motorcycle users
- Government-backed program aims to speed shift to electric transport
- Lithium battery plants and possible tax cuts seen lowering EV costs
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is set to launch a locally manufactured low-cost electric vehicle (EV) priced at Rs1 million ($3,556), aimed at helping motorcycle users transition more easily to cars, an official from the Engineering Development Board (EDB) told Arab News on Monday.
The country has seen a gradual rise in the adoption of EVs in a market traditionally dominated by Japanese automakers. The development comes as major cities across Pakistan face some of the world’s highest levels of air pollution, leading to dense smog in winter, with road transport being a major contributor.
In June last year, Pakistan introduced its Electric Vehicle Policy 2025–30, announcing more than Rs100 billion ($353 million) in subsidies over five years to support electric bikes and rickshaws and accelerate the shift toward cleaner transport.
“The car will be fully made in Pakistan and a local company is working on it,” Zeeshan Ashraf, a spokesman for the Engineering Development Board, a government body, told Arab News. “Its full price will be Rs1 million while the government is planning to give extra subsidy on this.”
Chinese and Korean electric vehicle brands have increasingly entered Pakistan’s market in recent years, making EVs a more common sight in cities such as Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.
Ashraf said the vehicle will be launched under the Pakistan Accelerated Vehicle Electrification (PAVE) Program, a public-sector initiative designed to promote an eco-friendly and economical transportation system in the country.
The locally manufactured low-cost EV is expected to become available across the country within the next few months, he added.
Earlier, Engineering Development Board Chief Executive Hammad Mansoor was quoted by local media as saying that Pakistan could see its first fully electric, locally manufactured car enter the market by June 2026, with an estimated price of around Rs1 million.
Speaking to journalists during an iftar dinner in Karachi this month, Mansoor also signaled that the government may lower vehicle taxes in the upcoming federal budget to make hybrid, electric and conventional fuel vehicles more affordable.
He said Pakistan’s first lithium battery manufacturing facility is expected to begin production by May, while a second plant could start operations in September.
According to him, about 74 percent of battery components will be produced locally, which could significantly reduce the cost of EVs by relying on domestically manufactured parts.
