Jazz, SIFC explore AI data centre and AI factory investment in Pakistan
Server racks inside a data centre (file photo)
ISLAMABAD: The Jazz AI data centre plan took its first formal step on Monday, when Jazz chief executive Aamir Ibrahim met the head of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) and senior officials to explore investment in data centres and AI factories in Pakistan.
According to a statement from the council, the talks were about finding ways to work together, using private-sector know-how to bring investment into emerging technology and next-generation digital infrastructure. Both sides agreed that better digital infrastructure would support innovation, sharpen the country’s technological edge and serve the changing needs of a growing digital economy. But nothing has been signed, and no figure, site or timetable has been announced — the discussion is still at the exploration stage.
A company clearing the decks
Jazz has spent this year reshaping its balance sheet for exactly this kind of move. It sold its tower portfolio — around 10,500 towers — to Engro Connect for $560 million, freeing up cash and flexibility to chase higher-value digital infrastructure. The company has also announced plans to invest $1 billion over the next three years in its network and digital infrastructure.
Jazz is Pakistan’s largest telecom operator, with 76 million subscribers as of September, including 59 million on 4G. Its 5G network has reached 1,000 live sites — the first operator in the country to hit that mark — and the company plans to raise the number to 2,500 by the end of the year. A dense 5G network and a chain of AI data centres feed each other: fast connectivity pours traffic straight into local compute.
A market already heating up
Jazz is not walking into an empty market. Sky47 Karakoram-01, described as Pakistan’s largest AI-ready data centre, opened in Islamabad on July 24, and the country’s largest state-linked data centre — 8.5 megawatts, built with ZTE — is already running. Another private data centre, with $230 million committed behind it, is in the pipeline.
The government has also unveiled its National Data Governance Policy 2026, declaring government data a national asset and setting rules for data sovereignty, privacy and AI. That creates real demand: state agencies must host their data locally, and businesses serving them will need compliant local infrastructure — the gap Jazz wants to fill.
