New Delhi: India is expected to formally join Pax Silica, the flagship US initiative to build secure global supply chains for semiconductors and AI technology, on Friday, people familiar with the matter said against the backdrop of efforts by the two sides to rebuild relations.
The move comes at a time when the two countries are working to finalise a bilateral trade agreement and move forward on other initiatives to repair ties after a year of unprecedented strains over the trade and tariff policies of the Trump administration. Washington removed a 25% penal tariff on Indian exports imposed over purchases of Russian oil after a February 7 joint statement of the two countries outlined an initial framework for a bilateral trade pact.
US ambassador Sergio Gor had announced soon after his arrival in New Delhi in January that India would be invited to join Pax Silica. India’s exclusion when the initiative was launched last December had been a cause of heartburn in New Delhi.
The formal signing of the Pax Silica Declaration by India and the US on Friday morning will be followed by an interaction between Gor and US under secretary of state for economic affairs Jacob Helberg.
A total of nine countries have so far signed on for the Pax Silica initiative, including Australia, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Singapore, the UK and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE was the latest signatory, joining last month, while the others joined in December.
US officials have said Pax Silica is aimed at creating multilayered partnerships to strengthen supply chain security, address “coercive dependencies” and “single points of failure”, and advance the adoption of trusted technology ecosystems.
The countries that have signed on to Pax Silica will explore opportunities to develop flagship projects across the global technology stack, including connectivity and infrastructure such as 6G, data centres, advanced manufacturing, logistics, mineral processing, and energy.
US officials have described Pax Silica as an “economic security coalition built for the AI age” organised around silicon, minerals and energy as “shared strategic assets”.
The Pax Silica Summit was held in Washington on December 12, when the initial batch of partner nations signed the declaration, which has a shared vision of economic and technology cooperation across supply chains – from raw materials to semiconductors and AI infrastructure – and a commitment to mutual prosperity and security.
“We recognise that a reliable supply chain is indispensable to our mutual economic security,” the Pax Silica declaration states.
“We also recognise that artificial intelligence (AI) represents a transformative force for our long-term prosperity and that trustworthy systems are essential to safeguarding our mutual security and prosperity,” it added.