Pax Silica

Pax Silica is a United States-led international initiative focused on strengthening and coordinating "trusted" supply chains for advanced technologies—especially semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, logistics, and associated energy and data infrastructure. The initiative is coordinated by the US Department of State and was launched in December 2025 alongside the signing of the non-binding Pax Silica Declaration by an initial group of partner countries.[1][2]

The initiative describes itself as a "positive-sum" partnership intended to reduce "coercive dependencies" and improve resilience across the full technology stack, from mineral extraction and processing through chip manufacturing and computing infrastructure.[1]

Background

During the 2020s, governments increasingly treated supply-chain resilience in semiconductors, critical minerals, and AI-related computing infrastructure as a national-security priority, amid export controls, industrial policy measures, and geopolitical competition over the technologies underpinning advanced manufacturing and AI. Pax Silica was presented by US officials as an economic-security framework aimed at aligning policies and investment among "trusted partners" that host major technology firms and key industrial capacity.[1][3] Pacific Forum's analyst Akhil Ramesh, writing for the National Interest magazine, described the initiative as understanding that: "economic security today is inseparable from control over energy, critical minerals, high-end manufacturing, and advanced models."[4]

US announcement and launch

On December 11, 2025, the US Department of State announced the inaugural Pax Silica Summit and a planned signing of the Pax Silica Declaration, describing Pax Silica as the Department's flagship effort on AI and supply-chain security.[5]

The initial summit was held in Washington, D.C. on December 12, 2025. The State Department fact sheet described cooperation areas including connectivity and data infrastructure, compute and semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, logistics, mineral refining and processing, and energy.[1]

Membership

Pax Silica participation has been discussed in terms of (1) countries that have signed the declaration and (2) countries invited to summit discussions or publicly reported as prospective signatories but which had not (as of mid-January 2026) signed the declaration.

Countries that signed the Pax Silica Declaration

Seven countries signed the declaration at the December 12, 2025, summit in Washington, D.C.[2] Some countries who attended the initial conversations did not immediately sign, while additional countries were invited to join after the discussions concluded. The following are the current signatory countries on the declaration:

Countries invited / participating, but not yet signed

At launch, US materials and contemporaneous reporting described additional invited participants and observers, including:

  • Canada – observer/participant in related discussions, per US briefing materials; not listed among signatories.[3]
  • Taiwan – participated in summit sessions according to a State Department briefing; not listed among signatories.[3]


The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and European Union were also noted by US officials as present in an observer capacity, but are not countries.[3]

Activities and proposed projects

US officials described Pax Silica as a framework for coordinating flagship projects and policy alignment across partner countries, including supply-chain mapping, investment and co-investment initiatives, and protection of critical infrastructure and sensitive technologies. Reuters reported discussions of projects linked to trade and logistics routes and an industrial park initiative in Israel.[12] Gulf countries, such as the UAE and Qatar, are betting on attracting AI companies with cheap energy.[13] Moreover, the UAE's potential to invest in Pax Silica's activities has been noted as a fundamental asset for the initiative.[14][15][16]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Pax Silica Summit (Fact Sheet)". United States Department of State. December 11, 2025. Retrieved January 13, 2026.
  2. ^ a b "The Pax Silica Declaration by countries attending the Pax Silica Summit, 12 December 2025". Australian Government – Department of Industry, Science and Resources. December 13, 2025. Retrieved January 13, 2026.
  3. ^ a b c d "Outcomes of the Pax Silica Summit (Foreign Press Center briefing)". United States Department of State. December 2025. Retrieved January 13, 2026.
  4. ^ Ramesh, Akhil (January 24, 2026). "Pax Silica and the Case for Bringing Industry Back into Foreign Policy". The National Interest. Retrieved January 25, 2026.
  5. ^ "Under Secretary Helberg Will Kick Off Pax Silica Summit with Landmark Declaration Signing". United States Department of State. December 11, 2025. Retrieved January 13, 2026.
  6. ^ "The Netherlands joins US-led push to secure AI and chip supply chains - Bits&Chips". Bits&Chips. December 17, 2025. Retrieved January 13, 2026.
  7. ^ https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/02/23/the-us-peace-corps-launches-new-tech-corps-to-bring-ai-expertise-abroad-heres-what-to-know
  8. ^ "Qatar and the United States sign "Pax Silica" declaration to strengthen cooperation in advanced technology". The Peninsula (via Zawya). January 13, 2026. Retrieved January 13, 2026.
  9. ^ "Statement by Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba on the United Arab Emirates joining Pax Silica". Reuters. January 14, 2026. Retrieved January 13, 2026.
  10. ^ "India formally joins US-led coalition Pax Silica on AI, supply chain". upstox.com. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  11. ^ "Sweden joins Pax Silica initiative". government.se. Retrieved March 17, 2026.
  12. ^ "Qatar and UAE to join U.S.-led effort to bolster technology supply chain". Reuters. January 11, 2026. Retrieved January 13, 2026.
  13. ^ "Qatar joins US 'Pax Silica' as it races to catch up with Gulf neighbours on AI". Middle East Eye. Retrieved January 25, 2026.
  14. ^ "UAE signs Pax Silica declaration to advance AI-era security | Computer Weekly". ComputerWeekly.com. Retrieved January 25, 2026.
  15. ^ Marias, Stephen Las (December 23, 2025). "Pax Silica Signals a New Era of Tech-Centric Geopolitics". EE Times Asia. Retrieved January 25, 2026.
  16. ^ Varghese, Justin (January 19, 2026). "Pax Silica: What the new AI tech bloc means for the UAE, global economy". Gulf News: Latest UAE news, Dubai news, Business, travel news, Dubai Gold rate, prayer time, cinema. Retrieved January 25, 2026.
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