After 25 years of local presence, Microsoft is officially shutting down its direct operations in Pakistan. Instead of maintaining an in-country office, the tech giant will now rely on authorised resellers and support from nearby regional offices to serve Pakistani customers.
You may have relied on Microsoft’s in-country office in the past, but moving forward, the company says you can expect the same level of service, just managed differently. In a statement to TechCrunch on July 5, Microsoft confirmed this shift, explaining that this new structure is already in use across many other countries.
According to a Microsoft spokesperson, “Our customer agreements and services will not be affected by this change… Our customers remain our top priority and can expect the same high level of service in the future.”
This decision directly affects five employees who were working for Microsoft in Pakistan. These roles primarily involved promoting Microsoft products, such as Azure and Office, as the company lacked engineering or development teams in the country, unlike in India, where Microsoft operates major R&D hubs.
Why is Microsoft stepping back?
The closure in Pakistan is part of a larger global restructuring by Microsoft. This week, the company reduced its global workforce by 4%, resulting in approximately 9,000 job cuts worldwide. In this context, the move away from direct operations in Pakistan is one piece of a broader cost-cutting and restructuring strategy.
Pakistan’s Ministry of IT and Telecommunication responded to Microsoft’s decision, describing it as part of a global “workforce-optimisation programme.” The ministry also revealed that Microsoft had already been preparing for this shift over the past few years. Licensing and commercial operations for Pakistan had already been moved to Microsoft’s European headquarters in Ireland, while local certified partners handled most service delivery on the ground.
Still, the ministry stressed that it remains in contact with Microsoft’s leadership. “We will continue to engage Microsoft’s regional and global leadership to ensure that any structural changes strengthen, rather than diminish, Microsoft’s long-term commitment to Pakistani customers, developers, and channel partners,” it said.
Reactions and industry impact
The move has sparked concern among local tech sector professionals. Jawwad Rehman, the former Microsoft country lead in Pakistan, publicly commented on the closure via LinkedIn. “This is more than a corporate exit. It’s a sobering signal of the environment our country has created… one where even global giants like Microsoft find it unsustainable to stay,” Rehman wrote.
Microsoft’s withdrawal comes at a time when Pakistan is actively working to improve its tech sector. Just days before the news broke, the federal government had announced plans to offer IT certifications to 500,000 young people through partnerships with global companies like Google and Microsoft. However, Microsoft’s decision now casts a shadow over these ambitions.
Google, on the other hand, is deepening its involvement in Pakistan. Last year, it invested US$10.5 million into Pakistan’s public education sector. It’s also exploring plans to manufacture half a million Chromebooks locally by 2026, further signalling its long-term interest in the country.
Microsoft’s exit highlights the broader challenges facing Pakistan’s tech landscape. Unlike neighbouring India, which has become a global hub for engineering and outsourcing, Pakistan has struggled to attract similar investment. Most of the country’s tech infrastructure is currently dominated by either domestic firms or Chinese giants, such as Huawei, which continue to provide enterprise-grade systems to local banks and telecom companies.
As Microsoft transitions to a new operating model in Pakistan, its exit leaves questions about the country’s ability to retain and attract other multinational tech players—and what this might mean for future innovation and growth.
