A quiet revolution is underway in Pakistan’s technology sector, and it is being built one chip at a time. ChipXPRT, a semiconductor spin-off from NUST’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS), has secured a PKR 50 million seed investment from Matracon Pakistan Private Limited, in a deal announced on 4 October 2026 at the National Science and Technology Park (NSTP) in Islamabad.
ChipXPRT: What the Company Does
ChipXPRT is a fabless semiconductor company, which means it designs chips rather than manufacturing them. Its focus areas read like a wishlist for the future of computing: RISC-V based microprocessor IPs, AI accelerators, in-memory computing for ultra-low-power edge AI, secure embedded processing, FPGA prototyping and design verification. Its flagship product is a production-ready Quantum-Safe Boot CPU that has been validated on the 65nm TSMC process, the manufacturing technology of the world’s leading chip foundry.
The company also runs chip-design training services, building the human capital Pakistan’s semiconductor ambitions will need. According to the investment plan, 70 percent of the seed funding will go into engineering development and 30 percent into operational expenses, funding a fully operational office with state-of-the-art infrastructure and an expanded team over the next 6 to 12 months.
The People Behind ChipXPRT
The company’s leadership comes straight from NUST’s chip-design labs. Chief Operating Officer Dr. Abid Rafique is an Assistant Professor at SEECS and Director of the Digital IC Design Lab, with more than 22 years in digital design and verification, and he consults for the Silicon Valley semiconductor startup RapidSilicon. At the signing ceremony he thanked Matracon for its belief in the team, saying the investment would help ChipXPRT expand. VP Engineering Dr. Imran brings over a decade of semiconductor chip-design experience and directs the SoC Lab at SEECS, where he led NUST’s early indigenous silicon-proven RISC-V processor work. The company operates from NSTP in Islamabad and maintains a US office in Fort Collins, Colorado.
An Unlikely Backer: A Construction Giant Bets on Chips
The investor is as interesting as the investment. Matracon Pakistan is a construction powerhouse: a PEC-registered Category CA (no-limit) contractor, ISO certified, with FY25 revenue of PKR 20.46 billion and profit after tax of PKR 1.78 billion, carrying zero long-term debt. Founded by Senator Abdul Qadir, who attended the signing ceremony, Matracon’s portfolio spans roads, bridges, dams, airports and industrial facilities. Its bet on ChipXPRT signals that Pakistan’s traditional business houses are beginning to see semiconductors as a serious asset class.
ChipXPRT’s International Traction
This is not a company starting from zero. ChipXPRT was selected as one of 20 pioneering companies in Saudi Arabia’s National Semiconductor Hub Cohort 01, chosen from 64 global applicants across the USA, South Korea, Japan, Egypt, Canada and Pakistan. Through its strategic partnership with the Hub and KACST in Riyadh, the company ran an eight-month “Zero to ASIC” program in which the first batch of 33 Saudi engineers graduated in May 2025, with four system-on-chips sent to TSMC for tape-out. It also exhibited at the KAUST Future of Semiconductors Forum 2025.
Why This Matters for Pakistan
Semiconductors are the foundation of the modern economy, and Pakistan has historically been absent from the value chain. That is changing. The government is investing Rs 4.8 billion in a five-year national program to train 7,200 engineers in chip design and verification, and NUST researchers recently completed functional testing of NTiny-E, Pakistan’s first indigenously designed microprocessor chip. ChipXPRT sits at the centre of this emerging ecosystem, working directly with the Ministry of IT and Telecom on the national semiconductor strategy.
The road is long: building a semiconductor industry takes decades and billions of dollars. But every ecosystem starts with a first generation of companies that prove it can be done. With international traction, a serious technical team and now domestic capital, ChipXPRT is making the case that Pakistan can design the chips of the future, not just consume them.
Final Thoughts
A PKR 50 million seed round will not transform an industry overnight, but its symbolism is powerful: a NUST lab spin-out, backed by a Pakistani construction giant, designing RISC-V processors validated on TSMC technology and training engineers for Saudi Arabia’s chip ambitions. Pakistan’s semiconductor story is just beginning, and ChipXPRT is writing its early chapters.
Sources
Umar is an engineer by profession and a passionate writer by passion. He has a deep interest in sharing good news related to Pakistan and has been working hard to promote the positive image of his homeland. Umar has written numerous articles on various topics related to Pakistan, such as technology, sports, culture, and economy.