How Pakistan can power the AI economy with Thar energy
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Pakistan can leverage its surplus electricity from Thar coal to become a competitive hub for AI and digital exports. By developing energy-anchored digital and AI parks, the country can attract data centers and compute-intensive industries, generating significant export revenues.
Pakistan is burdened with circular debt due to capacity payments for unused electricity. However, this surplus energy, particularly from Thar coal, can be transformed into a globally competitive AI and digital export economy. The Thar coal ecosystem hosts over 3,000 megawatts of power generation, with potential for expansion, and offers price stability and low marginal costs. Developing energy-anchored digital and AI parks along the Thar transmission corridor can supply competitively priced electricity to data centers and compute-intensive industries. Even a modest 100 megawatts can generate $150-200 million annually in export revenues. Pakistan can position itself as a cost-efficient destination for AI compute by providing reliable, low-cost energy. To capture this opportunity, the country must attract international data center operators, develop its own compute capacity, and build an ecosystem of AI-driven export services.
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