Pakistan to set aside excess power for AI data centres

AFP | Islamabad

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Pakistan Pakistan’s finance ministry said Sunday it would allocate 2,000 megawatts of excess power for crypto mining and AI data centres.

Generative AI requires colossal computing power to process information accumulated in gigantic databases and is driving massive global demand for energy.

Although Pakistan has an installed capacity of about 45,000 megawatts, demand peaks at around 30,000 megawatts in summers, according to the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, with the government liable to pay independent power providers for unused capacity. “Redirecting idle energy, especially from plants operating below capacity, allows Pakistan to convert a long-standing financial liability into a sustainable, revenue-generating opportunity,” the finance ministry said in a statement.