Leading global company Microsoft has decided to close its office in Pakistan and lay off employees.

Media reports said that the global tech company has closed its operations in the country.

The reports, citing sources, claimed that the company is officially closing its operations in Pakistan.

In a statement, a Microsoft spokesperson said that we will provide services to our customers through nearby offices, we are successfully running this model in many other countries of the world.

The spokesperson said that the company will provide services through local partners and foreign offices.

The move is part of the company’s ongoing global layoffs, as it shifts to artificial intelligence.

On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that it was laying off 4% of its approximately 228,000 employees, after the company announced the layoff of 6,000 employees in May.

The company said that it plans to run its operations with fewer managers and improve its products, processes and roles.

In this regard, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication said in a statement that global tech companies are moving from on-premise software deployment to the Software as a Service model, and Microsoft’s decision to lay off employees is also a link in this chain.

This move will affect all five employees of Microsoft in Pakistan and its representative office will be closed. However, its services will continue to be available to Microsoft users in the country.

Jawad Rehman, who founded Microsoft Pakistan in 2000, announced this on LinkedIn yesterday. He wrote that Microsoft is formally ending its operations in Pakistan and the remaining few employees have been informed.

It is believed that Microsoft’s presence in Pakistan was already limited and it had a few employees and a representative office here. According to Jawad Rehman, the company’s operations in Pakistan were started in June 2000.