Amir Husain
@amirhusain_tx
MANUFACTURING IN PAKISTAN: THE CELL PHONE EXAMPLE

The industry created 60,000 direct jobs per Profit Magazine. The Pakistan Mobile Phone Manufacturers Association puts total employment (direct + indirect) at 40,000+ jobs in 2024, but this undercounts distribution, retail, and service networks. Eight dedicated training centers have been established, graduating 5,000+ technical staff annually. Twelve thousand workers have been trained in advanced manufacturing processes.

Major brands assembling in Pakistan: Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Realme, Infinix, Tecno, Itel, Nokia, and more than a dozen local brands.
The industry reduced Pakistan's mobile phone import bill by $1.2 billion in 2024, a 35% decrease from the previous year, while contributing PKR 15 billion in tax revenue.

The government's Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy explicitly outlines a localization roadmap. Current focus areas:

Chargers (already localized)
Batteries (in progress)
Cables and accessories (in progress)
Packaging (fully localized)
Plastic casings and parts (in progress)

Next phases target PCB assembly, display modules, and eventually higher-level component manufacturing.

Here's another thing nitpickers miss entirely: the capabilities for higher-value manufacturing exist in Pakistan. They're just deployed in different sectors. For example, Karachi-based firm Ronin (which I've covered in my Made in Pakistan thread series) has established Pakistan's first smart wearables and tech accessories manufacturing and assembly industry. They're producing earbuds, smartwatches, headphones, neckbands, and power banks domestically, including acoustic design and plastics manufacturing. Not importing finished goods. Manufacturing them.

The National Institute of Electronics (NIE) operates SMT production lines with component placement capability of 30,000 components per hour, the same surface mount technology used globally for electronics assembly.
PCB design and stuffing: Multiple Pakistani firms offer PCB layout, SMD placement, and electronics assembly services to international clients.
And at the frontier there is RISC-V chip design.

In 2022, undergraduate researchers at MERL (Micro Electronics Research Lab) at UIT Karachi designed and taped out Pakistan's first RISC-V based System-on-Chip. The President of Pakistan inaugurated the chips, "Ghazi" and "Ibtida," fabricated on 130nm SkyWater process design kit through Google's free tapeout program.

Since then, MERL students have completed 9 tapeouts. All designed by undergraduate students.

Aql Tech Solutions in Islamabad is a RISC-V processor IP company that grew from 5 engineers to 40+ in under two years. They're developing RISC-V-based processors from high-end 64-bit cores to microcontrollers, working with Silicon Valley startups.

IEEE Spectrum noted in 2021 that Pakistan, alongside India, has "embraced RISC-V as their national instruction set architecture for homegrown chip development."

Let me be clear: Pakistan has active teams doing chip design work. Not chip fabrication, as no one except TSMC, Samsung, increasingly SMIC and Huawei, and Intel can do leading-edge fab. But chip design, which is where much of the intellectual value resides. This is Level 5 capability. It DOES exist in Pakistan.


https://x.com/amirhusain_tx/status/2016694941993590808?s=20

Amir Husain
@amirhusain_tx
MANUFACTURING IN PAKISTAN: THE CELL PHONE EXAMPLE

The question is not whether Pakistan CAN do these things. Pakistan demonstrably can. The question is whether the ecosystem matures fast enough to integrate these capabilities into commercial manufacturing.

So when someone asks "what percentage of local value addition makes something truly 'produced' locally?" ask them to name a number. Then show them which "manufacturing nations" fail their test. The truth is, the question itself is designed to ensure Pakistan can never win. It's intellectual gerrymandering. Set the standard at whatever Pakistan hasn't achieved yet, discount labor arbitrage, discount or ignore benefits gained, then move it again when they get there. Meanwhile, people that actually understand the business do appreciate what Pakistan has accomplished. It includes at least the following:

1. A near-total transformation of a major consumer goods sector from imports to domestic production in under a decade
2. Tens of thousands of skilled jobs created
3. Billions in foreign exchange saved
4. An industrial ecosystem taking root and growing
5. Human capital developing at scale
6. Electronics export potential emerging

Every successful manufacturing nation started exactly where Pakistan is now. The critics can keep moving goalposts. The factories keep running. The workers keep getting paid. The capability keeps building.


https://x.com/amirhusain_tx/status/2016694941993590808?s=

Apple is set to begin manufacturing and refurbishing iPhones in Pakistan, aiming to establish a regional export hub for mobile devices, according to reports in February 2026. The plan, supported by the Pakistan government under a new Mobile and Electronics Manufacturing Framework, includes incentives like an 8% performance bonus and discounted land for local assembly and repair.
The Economic Times
The Economic Times
+4
Key details:
Manufacturing & Refurbishing: The agreement involves both assembling new iPhones and establishing a facility to repair/refurbish 2-3 year-old models for international re-export.
Economic Impact: The initiative is expected to generate approximately
$
100
$
1
0
0
million in re-export revenue in its first year.
Incentives: The Pakistan government has proposed enhancing performance-based incentives for manufacturers to 8% to attract Apple and other tech giants, encouraging a shift toward localization.
Location: Reports suggest Air Link Communication plans to open the first official Apple retail store by late 2025.
Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times
+4
This move marks a significant shift in regional supply chain strategies and aims to boost Pakistan's local manufacturing capabilities.