Washington, Jan 30 The US is positioning India as a key future partner in a new economic security framework aimed at securing global supply chains for artificial intelligence and advanced technologies, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg said on Friday.
Speaking at the Hudson Institute, Helberg said Washington is preparing to expand its Pax Silica initiative. The effort is an economic security coalition focused on semiconductors, critical minerals, logistics and AI infrastructure.
He said the US “looks forward to welcoming India next month” as part of the partnership, highlighting New Delhi’s growing role in technology and supply chain discussions.
Helberg said the global technology landscape has changed sharply over the past decade. He said long-held assumptions in Washington no longer hold.
“The hardware of our modern life, the silicon that powers everything from your kids’ smartphones to our most advanced kinetic weapons, has become the primary theatre of strategic competition,” he said, adding that supply chains are no longer neutral commercial systems but tools of geopolitical power.
Helberg said the Trump administration views the AI race as a contest on three fronts: innovation, market diffusion and supply chain security. He warned that shortages of chips, minerals, or infrastructure could slow progress across the technology stack.
“Winning the AI race means winning on three fronts,” he said.
Helberg pointed to what he described as a resurgence of the U.S. economy. He cited growth of 5.4 per cent and said the world’s ten largest companies by market capitalisation are all American, most of them technology firms.
He credited that performance to President Donald Trump’s economic agenda. He said the administration is determined to ensure American-led systems become the global default in emerging technologies.
Pax Silica, Helberg said, is meant to turn that ambition into coordinated action with trusted partners. He described it as a coalition of technologically capable economies that together account for a dominant share of global semiconductor manufacturing capacity.
Along with India’s expected entry, Helberg said recent partners include Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He said discussions are also underway with countries in Europe, Asia and the Western Hemisphere.
The initiative will operate along three lines of effort: membership, policy and projects. On policy, Helberg said partners are working toward shared definitions of sensitive technologies and critical infrastructure. He said discussions are also underway on anti-dumping practices.
On projects, Helberg said the focus will be on industrial capacity and logistics. Pilot efforts will be launched on a bilateral or “plurilateral” basis rather than through a single multilateral model.
Helberg said the private sector will remain “our biggest weapon.” He said governments should remove regulatory hurdles, protect intellectual property and create incentives rather than run projects themselves.
He said securing supply chains will require more than policy coordination. It will also require product-driven solutions, including intelligent logistics systems that can anticipate disruptions.
On China, Helberg said Pax Silica is “not a China strategy” but “an America strategy.” He said the focus is on ensuring reliable and competitive access to minerals, manufacturing and logistics.
He said the US will take a “trust but verify” approach with partners and avoid rigid “purity tests” that could weaken cooperation.
--IANS
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