The United States has launched Pax Silica, a U.S.-led strategic initiative aimed at building a more secure, resilient “silicon” supply chain—spanning everything from critical minerals and energy inputs to advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, AI infrastructure, and logistics—as Washington and allies look to reduce exposure to coercive supply-chain leverage.
Who’s in Pax Silica and what happened at the first summit
The inaugural Pax Silica Summit brought together counterparts from Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the UK, Israel, the UAE, and Australia, according to U.S. State Department messaging cited in reports.
One important nuance: public readouts suggest a difference between who was represented at the summit and who formally signed the initial declaration. Australia’s published “Pax Silica Declaration” lists the signatories as Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Israel, the UK, and the United States—without naming the Netherlands or the UAE as signers in that document.
Why India’s absence is notable
India—despite being part of the Quad’s critical minerals cooperation and having deepening U.S. tech ties—does not appear in the initial Pax Silica grouping.
That stands out because India’s strategic partnerships increasingly intersect with the same themes Pax Silica is targeting: supply-chain security, trusted tech ecosystems, and reduced dependence on single-country chokepoints.
India’s existing tech track with the U.S.
India and the U.S. already have a formal framework for cooperation on sensitive and frontier technologies: iCET (the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology), which covers areas like semiconductors, advanced telecom, defense innovation, and AI-related collaboration.
India also participates in a broader network of bilateral tech and economic security efforts—often overlapping with semiconductor ecosystem building, research cooperation, and supply-chain resilience.
What about the India–U.S.–South Korea tech dialogue?
Separately, the U.S., India, and South Korea launched a Trilateral Technology Dialogue in 2024. However, publicly visible progress and readouts since then have been limited, making it difficult to judge the pace or scope of follow-on work from open sources alone.
The bigger question: what Pax Silica is optimizing for
As described, Pax Silica is focused on the full stack that powers advanced computing—from materials through manufacturing and AI infrastructure. That tends to favor countries that already host large portions of the global semiconductor and AI supply chain (design, tools, advanced packaging, high-end manufacturing, and the capital behind it).
Experts quoted in reports argue India is still building the depth needed to slot into this particular “inner circle.” That doesn’t mean India has no relevant capabilities or resources—but it does suggest India may currently be viewed as earlier-stage in parts of the chain Pax Silica is prioritizing, especially in advanced manufacturing ecosystems and high-purity materials processing at scale.