India Joins Pax Silica: 12th Member of the Global Semiconductor Alliance

Pax Silica is a US-led international technology security coalition launched on December 12, 2025 at the inaugural Pax Silica Summit in Washington DC, convened by US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Jacob Helberg.

The name carries deliberate symbolic weight. Pax is the Latin word for peace — evoking a stable, rules-based international order. Silica refers to silicon dioxide, the compound refined into silicon, the foundational material of every semiconductor chip, every AI processor, and every modern computing device. Together, the name conveys the alliance’s ambition: to build a stable, secure, and sovereign technology order — centred on silicon, the raw material of the digital age.

Pax Silica’s membership expanded in three waves since its founding:

• Founding members (December 12, 2025): United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea, United Kingdom, Singapore, Israel — seven nations representing the core of allied semiconductor and AI capability.
• January 2026 additions: Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Greece — bringing strategic mineral and energy capacity into the coalition.
• February 2026: India — the most populous democracy, the world’s leading AI talent pool, and a fast-emerging semiconductor manufacturing nation.

Notable absentees include Canada, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and the European Union, all of which participated in early discussions but have not yet signed. The EU’s absence is particularly significant given that Dutch company ASML manufactures the extreme ultraviolet lithography machines essential for advanced chip production.

Pax Silica is organised around securing the “silicon stack” — the complete technology supply chain from raw earth to deployed AI systems. The four interconnected pillars are:

• Pillar 1 — Critical Minerals: Coordinating extraction, processing, and preferential access to minerals like lithium, cobalt, gallium, germanium, and rare earth elements — reducing dependence on any single nation’s mineral supply. India contributes reserves of thorium, mica, and rare earth elements.
• Pillar 2 — Semiconductor Manufacturing: Diversifying chip fabrication across multiple trusted nations. India aligns with this through its $18 billion semiconductor mission, with 10 plants under establishment.
• Pillar 3 — AI Infrastructure: Coordinating on data centres, energy supply, frontier AI deployment, and governance standards across member nations.
• Pillar 4 — Trusted Networks: Securing 6G telecommunications, fibre-optic cables, and hardware standards — preventing infiltration by equipment that could enable surveillance or coercive leverage.

Official Pax Silica documents never name China directly — but the coalition’s entire rationale is a direct response to Chinese technological strategy. China has systematically built leverage over the global technology supply chain through four mechanisms:

• Rare earth dominance: China controls processing for approximately 60% of the world’s rare earth minerals and has imposed export controls on gallium, germanium, and graphite as diplomatic pressure tools.
• Chip manufacturing ambitions: China is investing hundreds of billions to develop domestic advanced chip fabrication and end its dependence on foreign semiconductors.
• Digital infrastructure exports: Huawei and ZTE have built telecom infrastructure across dozens of countries, with Western intelligence agencies raising concerns about surveillance capabilities in this equipment.
• Technology transfer through investment: Chinese investment in Western and Asian tech companies has been used to acquire intellectual property and strategic insight into competitor capabilities.

At the India AI Summit signing, US Under Secretary Helberg stated plainly: “As we sign the Pax Silica declaration, we say no to weaponised dependency, and we say no to blackmail.”

India’s accession is not a routine diplomatic formality. US Ambassador Sergio Gor described it as “not merely symbolic — it is strategic and essential.” Minister Vaishnaw confirmed at the signing ceremony that:

• Indian engineers are already designing 2-nanometer chips — the world’s most advanced generation
• 10 semiconductor plants are currently established or under establishment
• The first commercial semiconductor plant will begin production very soon
• Students from 300+ universities and colleges are engaged in chip design work

India also brings its most powerful card: human capital. According to the Stanford AI Index Report 2025, India leads the world in AI talent acquisition with approximately 33% annual hiring growth. More than half of the senior engineering leadership of major US technology companies is of Indian origin.

India’s Pax Silica signing also marks a diplomatic reset — navigating through recent friction in India-US relations over India’s continued purchase of discounted Russian oil, signalling that the bilateral strategic relationship is anchored in long-term alignment.

Insight 1: Pax Silica is the most consequential technology alliance since the internet era. Just as NATO was built around military security, Pax Silica is being built around the defining strategic technologies of the 21st century — semiconductors and AI — before competition crystallises into irreversible dependencies.

Insight 2: India’s entry transforms Pax Silica from a Western club into a genuinely global coalition. India’s scale, demographic depth, and growing capabilities make it harder for China to frame the alliance as a developed-country cartel against the developing world.

Insight 3: The EU’s absence is the coalition’s most significant weakness. Europe houses ASML — the Dutch company that makes the extreme ultraviolet lithography machines without which no one can manufacture advanced chips. Without the Netherlands and the EU formally inside, Pax Silica has a critical supply chain gap.

Insight 4: India’s 2-nanometer chip design is the real strategic asset right now. While fabrication capability is years away, chip design — the intellectual architecture of what a chip will do — is something Indian engineers already do at the frontier, contributing to the most valuable part of the semiconductor value chain immediately.