CONFIRMED: Samsung to partner with Lucky Group to start production of smartphones in Pakistan

As per a news article shared on this blog earlier, it was predicted that tech giant Samsung was looking for a suitable local partner in Pakistan to establish an assembly plant. It has now been confirmed from reliable sources that Lucky Motor Corporation Limited (LMC), a subsidiary of Lucky Cement Limited, has recently entered into an agreement with Samsung Gulf Electronics Co., FZE (‘Samsung’) to produce Samsung branded Mobile Devices in Pakistan.

The Minister for Energy, Hammad Azhar, also announced the news through his official Twitter account, saying, “I congratulate Lucky Group and Samsung on entering into a JV to manufacture smartphones in Pakistan. These positive developments are evidence of the success of the DIRBS system that eliminated the smuggling of phones. And then followed up by Mobile Manufacturing policy last year”.

LMC’s existing plant facility that produces vehicles at the Bin Qasim Industrial Park, Special Economic Zone, Port Qasim, Karachi will house the production facility for the Samsung Mobile Devices. The estimated date for production startup is December 2021. LMC has also initiated the necessary approval process with Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

Specialist Asset Manager for Tundra Fonder, a Swedish asset managing company specializing in frontier markets, said, “With a mobile subscriber base of approximately 185 million people, Pakistan imported around 35 million mobile phones in 2020 (up from 28 million in 2019, and 17 million in 2018). Following Xiaomi, [now] Samsung is starting local production. More manufacturers will follow”.

This is a huge development for Pakistan in terms of technology transfer, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and more affordable smartphones for the world’s fifth most populated country. This step will usher Pakistan into a new era of digitalization supporting the GoP’s vision of a Digital Pakistan.