Seed deal announced at NUST

ChipXPRT, a spin-off from the National University of Sciences and Technology's School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS), has secured a PKR 50 million seed investment from Matracon Pakistan Private Limited. The announcement was published by NUST SEECS on 25 October 2026, and the signing ceremony took place at the National Science and Technology Park at NUST.

The investment supports the company's work on chip design solutions. Representatives from NUST SEECS attended the ceremony, along with Senator Abdul Qadir, a member of the Senate. No product, customer or revenue figures were announced alongside the deal.

Part of Pakistan's wider chip push

The seed round sits inside a much larger national effort to build semiconductor skills. Under the National Semiconductor Human Resource Development Program, known as INSPIRE, Pakistan plans to train 7,200 professionals over five years in semiconductor design, verification and research, across nine public-sector universities, with six integrated circuit laboratories.

The programme uses a fabless model — focusing on chip design rather than building expensive fabrication plants — and has set up three regional education and research clusters: NUST leading the North, ESUPAK-UET Lahore leading the Central region, and NED University leading the South. The current cluster intake is set to train 270 students, as part of the broader 7,200 target by 2030.

For Pakistan's young engineers, the ChipXPRT deal is a small but concrete sign that university spin-offs can now attract private money, not just public training funds. Whether that early funding turns into commercial chip designs will depend on the team's next rounds, customers and technical results, none of which have been disclosed yet.

Sources: NUST SEECS announcement, 25 October 2026; TechJuice, Pakistan's national semiconductor cluster framework.