Microsoft has officially closed its office in Pakistan, marking the end of its nearly 26-year presence in the country.
The company said it will now serve customers in Pakistan through resellers and nearby regional offices.
A Microsoft spokesperson told TechCrunch, “Our customer support and services will not change. We are using the same model that we use in many other countries.”
This decision affects only five employees in Pakistan. Microsoft did not have any software development (engineering) teams in the country — its local team mainly sold Microsoft products like Azure and Office.
The move is part of Microsoft’s global restructuring. Earlier this week, the company announced it is cutting 4% of its global workforce, which is about 9,000 jobs.
Pakistan’s Information Ministry said Microsoft had already moved its licensing and contract management to its European office in Ireland over the past few years. Local certified partners were handling most of the day-to-day work in Pakistan.
Former Microsoft Pakistan head Jawwad Rehman shared the news on LinkedIn and said the exit is “a wake-up call” for the country. He added, “Even global companies like Microsoft now find it hard to stay in Pakistan.”
This comes at a surprising time, just days after Pakistan announced plans to offer IT certifications from Microsoft and Google to half a million students. Meanwhile, Google has been increasing its presence in Pakistan, including a $10.5 million investment in public education.
Experts say this shows the challenges in Pakistan’s tech industry, which has not grown like India’s. While India is a hub for global tech outsourcing, Pakistan’s market is mostly served by local companies and Chinese tech firms like Huawei.
