WASHINGTON—The Trump administration’s launch of Pax Silica, a new US-led strategic coalition to build a secure, innovation-driven AI supply chain.
Despite years of rhetoric on tech partnership and supply chain cooperation, India has been left out of the initiative’s first tier, highlighting the persistent gaps in US-India strategic convergence.
The State Department describes Pax Silica as “a secure, prosperous, and innovation-driven silicon supply chain, from critical minerals and energy inputs to advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, AI infrastructure, and logistics.”
The coalition currently includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the UAE and Australia, countries hosting the world’s most advanced semiconductor and AI technology ecosystems.
A capability-based coalition not a geopolitical partnership club
India’s absence underscores Washington’s shift toward a capability-first approach rather than symbolic geopolitical alignment.
While New Delhi is a strategic partner, it is not yet a “system-critical node” in global semiconductor or AI supply chains.
India still lacks advanced chip fabrication, lithography capabilities, and a mature semiconductor manufacturing base, key components for a bloc built around high-trust, interoperable technology systems.
Pax Silica’s founding declaration stresses growing global risks and the need to “protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence” and to reduce “coercive dependencies.”
This aligns more naturally with technologically advanced allies rather than countries with emerging or incomplete semiconductor ecosystems.
India also remains entangled in unresolved disputes with Washington over digital taxes, data localization, intellectual property protections, and regulatory unpredictability.
These frictions have slowed progress toward a US-India trade agreement and have complicated long-term tech integration.
US economic statecraft is moving toward exclusive, high-capability blocs
The launch of Pax Silica marks a significant moment. US economic statecraft is moving toward exclusive, high-capability blocs rather than broad geopolitical partnerships.
The first summit involves the US, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, Israel, Australia, the UAE, Canada and the EU.
This signals that a multipolar tech order is taking shape, defined by overlapping blocs, Pax Silica tech frameworks, the EU Chips Act, and China’s Digital Silk Road.
India’s exclusion is not a snub; it is a reminder that capability, not rhetoric, now defines global technology coalitions.
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