US forms Pax Silica with allies central to global AI and chip supply chains

Washington DC [US], December 13 : Pax Silica, a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure, prosperous, and innovation-driven silicon supply chain, has been formed with declaration signed on Friday (local time), partnering Australia, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Israel and itself signed a declaration at the Pax Silica Summit in Washington DC.

The pact is aimed at building a secure, prosperous, and innovation-driven silicon supply chain, from critical minerals and energy inputs to advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, AI infrastructure, and logistics.

Pax Silica aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence, and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale, according to a statement from the US Department of State.

"Pax Silica is a positive-sum partnership. It is not about isolating othersbut about coordinating with partners who want to remain competitive and prosperous," Office of the spokesperson of the US State Department said.

According to the US administration, across the United States and partner nations, a clear consensus has emerged that securing supply chains, trusted technology, and resilient infrastructure is indispensable to national power and economic growth.

The Pax Silica initiative responds to growing demand from partners to deepen economic and technology cooperation with the United States; the understanding that AI represents a transformative force for our long-term prosperity; recognition that trustworthy systems are essential for safeguarding our mutual security and prosperity; increasing risks from coercive dependencies; and the importance of fair market practices and policy coordination to protect sensitive technologies and critical infrastructure, the statement said.

AI is reorganising the world economy. Economic value will increasingly flow through all levels of the global AI supply chain, driving historic opportunity and demand for energy, critical minerals, semiconductors, manufacturing, technological hardware, infrastructure, and new markets not yet invented.

"Pax Silica" draws from the Latin paxmeaning peace, stability, and long-term prosperity, as seen in terms like Pax Americana and Pax Romana. Silica refers to the compound that is refined into silicon, one of the chemical elements foundational to the computer chips that enable artificial intelligence.

Pax Silica seeks to establish a durable economic order that underwrites an AI-driven era of prosperity across partner countries.

"Countries will partner on securing strategic stacks of the global technology supply chain, including, but not limited to: software applications and platforms, frontier foundation models, information connectivity and network infrastructure, compute and semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, transportation logistics, minerals refining and processing, and energy," the statement read.

Countries part of this initiative affirmed a shared commitment to pursue projects to jointly address AI supply chain opportunities and vulnerabilities in priority critical minerals, semiconductor design, fabrication, and packaging, logistics and transportation, compute, and energy grids and power generation.

They also affirmed their intention to pursue new joint ventures and strategic co-investment opportunities; to protect sensitive technologies and critical infrastructure from undue access or control by countries of concern; and to build trusted technology ecosystems, including ICT systems, fibre-optic cables, data centres, foundational models, and applications.

"Through this cooperation, we pursue a comprehensive economic partnership to build an economic security order based on trust, technological complementarity, shared interests, and a shared commitment to a more prosperous future," the joint declaration read, dated December 13.

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