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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday launched a national semiconductor training program to develop chip-design expertise and reduce dependence on foreign technology, with officials saying the country also plans to work closely with ��������’s semiconductor industry.

The five-year INSPIRE Initiative, valued at Rs 4.8 billion ($17.2 million), aims to train around 3,200 young professionals and establish nine university clusters and six state-of-the-art integrated-circuit laboratories.

Officials said the program will bridge academia, industry and the public sector to build the foundations of Pakistan’s semiconductor ecosystem.

“We have launched two programs,” said Dr. Naveed Shirwani, head of the country’s semiconductor task force. “One will make it easier for Pakistani companies to do business in �������� without spending any money, and the other connects our young talent with Saudi semiconductor firms.”

“The National Semiconductor Hub of �������� has declared Pakistan its first spoke, linking the two countries to work together,” he added.

Semiconductors, the tiny chips powering everything from smartphones and vehicles to medical equipment and defense systems, have become a global strategic priority.

Supply-chain disruptions in recent years have prompted countries to localize design and production capacity to secure what many now regard as a cornerstone of economic and national security.

Shirwani said the effort of his team went beyond training or chip design, describing it as a step toward “digital sovereignty.”

He maintained if Pakistan did not have control over its own data, connectivity or ability to extract knowledge from it, it would be hard to say it was truly in its possession.

He also pointed out that these capabilities depended cybersecurity and semiconductors. You can’t run a hospital or a school if we don’t have our own semiconductors.

“This is the first step,” he continued. “We are starting training, but eventually we have to establish our entire semiconductor industry. We have no other choice.”

Information Technology Minister Shaza Fatima said the initiative marked Pakistan’s movement toward a trillion-dollar global market projected to need one million skilled workers by 2030.

“We are trying to create a complete chip-design and research ecosystem for Pakistan,” she said, stressing that international collaboration would be critical.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who inaugurated the program, said nations that control artificial intelligence and semiconductors “will control the future of the world.”

He assured the participants at the gathering that his administration would provide additional funding to keep the initiative rolling whenever required.

ISLAMABAD: Authorities in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province have made face masks mandatory for traffic police and sanitation workers as smog levels worsen in Lahore and other cities, according to an official statement on Tuesday.

Punjab, and its capital Lahore, face a recurring “smog season” from October to February, driven by crop-residue burning, vehicular and industrial emissions and stagnant winter weather conditions. The hazy blanket has previously pushed the Air Quality Index (AQI) above 300 in Lahore, a hazardous level that forced school and office closures in November 2024.

As of 1:40 p.m. Tuesday, Lahore ranked as the second most polluted city in the world with an AQI of 174, just behind New Delhi’s 197, while Karachi placed ninth with 123, according to the World Air Quality Index.

“Wearing masks has been made mandatory for traffic police and Suthra Punjab teams in the province under the directives of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif,” the Punjab government said in a statement, adding that senior officers had been instructed to ensure strict compliance.

Lahore, a city of around 14 million people, has begun using anti-smog guns for the first time this month in an effort to reduce airborne pollutants. Senior Punjab Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a social media post last week the initiative had helped decrease air pollution by 70 percent, citing data from the city’s environmental monitoring system.

She shared a video showing anti-smog trucks spraying fine water mist across major roads to help settle dust and other particulate matter.

Punjab residents have, in the past, spent months breathing concentrations of PM2.5, microscopic particles that penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream, at levels more than 20 times higher than World Health Organization recommendations.

Smog can cause sore throats, eye irritation and respiratory illness, while long-term exposure increases the risk of stroke, heart disease and lung cancer.

Children are particularly vulnerable due to higher breathing rates and weaker immune systems.

Pakistani authorities also warned wind patterns on Tuesday showed smog-laden air drifting from Amritsar toward Lahore and Faisalabad at 5 km/h, from Ludhiana toward Sahiwal and from Haryana toward southern Punjab, including Burewala, Bahawalpur and Multan.