Export of Electronics from Pakistan

This policy brief, developed by the Pakistan Business Council (PBC), explores Pakistan’s long-standing but underrealized potential in the electronics sector — particularly its capacity to participate in global electronics value chains through strategic policy interventions in electronics design, power electronics manufacturing, and semiconductor enablement. The policy brief aligns with PBC’s Make-in-Pakistan advocacy agenda, particularly the “Make More / Make Better” pillar focused on improving the competitiveness of local production for both domestic consumption and exports.

Despite past capabilities and current technical talent, the electronics sector in Pakistan remains underdeveloped, fragmented, and uncompetitive. The paper argues that Pakistan must shift its focus from mainstream hardware manufacturing — where economies of scale and global dominance by players like China pose steep barriers — toward high-skill, IP-driven domains such as electronics design and embedded systems. The brief also highlights untapped opportunities in two-wheeler automotive electronics, residential power electronics, and EV-centric component design, where market alignment and existing capabilities can be leveraged with modest policy support.

The brief reviews the National Electronics Policy, the Pakistan National Semiconductor Plan (PNSP), and the Semiconductor Policy and Action Plan (SPAP), outlining how they envision state intervention in training, R&D, international collaboration, and strategic infrastructure. It also offers a comparative analysis of past global success cases — notably Taiwan and India — and recommends Pakistan adopt a tailored, design-first strategy rather than capital-intensive fabrication ventures.

Through a close examination of the automotive and consumer power electronics sectors, the brief identifies structural weaknesses — from lack of certification infrastructure and international market access to outdated production technologies and poor trade facilitation — and presents targeted, realistic solutions.

The brief offers six key recommendations:

1. Develop public-private shared manufacturing facilities (“Factories-for-Hire”) to support white-label electronics production
2. Upgrade the National Institute of Electronics into a design-focused Center of Excellence under PPP mode
3. Establish a national semiconductor task force, with international facilitation offices to connect to global value chains
4. Promote electronics design houses, especially in chip and PCB design, with grant-based startup support tied to fundraising success
5. Invest in certification labs and streamline access to international compliance pathways for both electronics and automotive products
6. Replicate the smartphone manufacturing policy approach to scale product complexity gradually across the electronics sector

The paper positions electronics not just as an industrial opportunity, but as a strategic pillar of Pakistan’s innovation economy — one that requires targeted state support in its upstream stages, but whose downstream competitiveness must ultimately be driven by the private sector.

The PBC is a private sector, not-for-profit business advocacy platform set up in 2005 by 14 (now 100) of Pakistan’s largest businesses. PBC’s evidence-based policy research supports reforms that enhance Pakistan’s economic potential, industrial competitiveness, and ability to generate employment and exports.