India on Friday joined Pax Silica, a United States-led group to coordinate supply chains for semiconductors, artificial intelligence and critical minerals.
Pax Silica has 11 other members including Australia, Israel, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom. The European Union participates in the group as a non-signatory member.
The US had launched Pax Silica on December 11 saying that it intends to bring together “trusted partners” for a “strategic initiative” to create a secure supply chain from critical minerals and energy inputs to advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, artificial intelligence infrastructure and logistics.
The pact was signed at a ceremony in Delhi attended by Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor and US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg.
Gor described India’s entry into Pax Silica as “strategic and essential”, adding that the group “will define the 21st century economic and technological order”.
The signing took place on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit.
The five-day event, which began on Monday, has been promoted as the first major gathering on artificial intelligence in the Global South. Twenty world leaders, officials from major technology companies and exhibitors from 30 countries attended the event.
Speaking at the ceremony on Friday, Helberg said that the declaration marked a historic milestone in US-India relations, The Telegraph reported.
He added the two countries were saying no to “weaponised dependency” and blackmail, and that economic security was national security.
Vaishnaw, India’s minister for electronics and information technology, said that joining Pax Silica was “very important for the semiconductor supply chain, semiconductor manufacturing and chip design, for establishing the entire semiconductor ecosystem” in India.
“A complete ecosystem is emerging in India,” ANI quoted him as having told reporters. “Pax Silica will be crucial for this, and the youth of India will benefit from it.”
When the initiative was launched on December 11, the Congress had alleged that India had been left out “given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May”.
The Opposition party was referring to US President Donald Trump repeatedly claiming credit for brokering the ceasefire between India and Pakistan following the four-day conflict in May.
New Delhi has rejected the claims and maintained that the ceasefire was not the result of mediation.
Bilateral relations between the two countries further deteriorated in August after Trump doubled the tariffs on imports from India to 50% for purchasing Russian oil amid the war in Ukraine. The US president had repeatedly alleged that India’s imports were fuelling Russia’s war on Ukraine.
New Delhi has maintained that its oil imports are based on market factors and are aimed at ensuring India’s energy security.
The two countries announced a trade deal on February 2 under which the US agreed to cut tariffs imposed on India to 18%. New Delhi said it will reduce its tariff and non-tariff barriers on US goods.
Just 0.2% of readers pay for news. The others don’t care if it dies. You can help make a difference. Support independent journalism – join Scroll now.
We’re not driven by clicks or corporate interests – just honest, independent reporting. Keep us going. Support Scroll today!