India Joins U.S.-Led Pax Silica Coalition to Secure Chips and AI Supply Chains

India joins the Pax Silica coalition at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, marking an expansion of strategic technology and semiconductor cooperation with the United States.

The declaration was signed on February 20, 2026, during the final day of the five-day summit, according to the Press Information Bureau (PIB). Senior officials from both countries attended the ceremony, including Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Jacob Helberg, along with U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor.

What Was Signed

By joining Pax Silica, India becomes part of a coalition of countries seeking to coordinate across what officials describe as the “silicon stack”, the full technology supply chain spanning critical minerals, semiconductor fabrication, chip design, and advanced AI infrastructure.

The initiative aims to reduce supply chain concentration risks, strengthen trusted technology partnerships, and align policies around semiconductor production and AI deployment.

While detailed operational mechanisms were not outlined at the event, U.S. officials described the agreement as a framework for long-term cooperation across minerals extraction, chip manufacturing, and AI systems.

What This Means For India

India’s entry into Pax Silica signals closer alignment with U.S.-led efforts to secure semiconductor supply chains and advanced technology ecosystems amid growing geopolitical competition.

This coalition positions economic security, particularly around chips and AI systems, as a strategic priority. It reflects ongoing global efforts to diversify semiconductor manufacturing beyond concentrated regions or companies, and to reduce dependence on single-country supply chains.

For example, a significant share of cutting-edge chip manufacturing is based in Taiwan and South Korea, while China dominates parts of the critical minerals and rare earth processing supply chain. Such concentration creates vulnerability to geopolitical tensions, trade restrictions, export controls or supply disruptions.

In response to these risks, major economies have rolled out policies to strengthen their domestic chip industries. The U.S. passed the CHIPS and Science Act, the European Union launched its Chips Act, and India introduced production-linked incentives (PLI) scheme and policy measures in recent years to attract semiconductor fabrication, assembly, and design investments.

At the same time, export controls on advanced chipmaking equipment and AI chips have tightened, and against this backdrop, initiatives like Pax Silica seek to align trusted countries across the full supply chain, from minerals and chip manufacturing to AI infrastructure, instead of relying on isolated national strategies.

For India, the move aligns with its domestic push to expand semiconductor manufacturing capacity and strengthen its role in global chip design and AI development.

Semiconductor and AI Push

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “We are not just holding a summit; we are building the future.”

He highlighted India’s expanding chip design ecosystem, stating that Indian engineers are working on advanced 2nm chip designs. “The semiconductor industry will require around one million new skilled professionals, and this is a very big opportunity for India,” he said.

U.S. Positioning and Private Sector Voices 

Jacob Helberg described the declaration as “not merely an agreement on paper, but a roadmap for a shared future.” “Today, as we sign the Pax Silica declaration, we say no to weaponized dependency, and we say no to blackmail. Together, we affirm that economic security is national security,” Helberg said.

U.S. Ambassador Sergio Gor said the coalition is designed to secure the full technology chain “from the mines where we extract critical minerals, to the fabs where we manufacture chips, to the data centres where we deploy frontier AI.”

Following the signing, a fireside discussion featured S. Krishnan, Secretary at Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology; Sergio Gor; Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron Technology; and Randhir Thakur, CEO and MD of Tata Electronics.

Krishnan said India’s approach focuses on “resilient collaboration with trusted partners who share our values,” combining AI ambitions with semiconductor and critical mineral strategy.

Gor said, “The AI revolution is not on the horizon — it is already here.”

Mehrotra described the initiative as part of a “shared commitment to building resilient, secure supply chains,” while Thakur called Pax Silica “a timely and strategic step.”

The announcement comes amid heightened global competition over semiconductor production and AI infrastructure. By joining Pax Silica, India deepens its participation in a coordinated effort to secure semiconductor and AI supply chains among aligned economies, a move that reflects the growing intersection of technology policy, economic strategy, and national security.

More on What Is Pax Silica

Pax Silica is a U.S.-led international initiative launched in December 2025 by the U.S. Department of State. Its goal is to bring together allied countries to build more secure and resilient supply chains for advanced technologies, particularly semiconductors, artificial intelligence infrastructure, critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, and related logistics and data systems.

The name combines two references: "Pax," the Latin word for and "Silica," the compound refined into silicon, the material at the heart of modern semiconductors and AI chips.

Pax Silica currently has 11 signatories: the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Israel, Qatar, the UAE, Greece, and India, which joined most recently.

Seven of these countries signed the original declaration at the inaugural summit in Washington on December 12, 2025. Qatar, the UAE, and Greece joined in January 2026, followed by India in February 2026.

A separate group of countries and organisations participated in early discussions but have not signed the declaration. These include Canada, the Netherlands, the European Union, Taiwan, and the OECD. The EU's absence from the signatory list has drawn attention, the bloc attended the launch summit but has not joined, amid wider tensions in U.S.-European relations. The Netherlands is notable in this context as the home of ASML Holding N.V., the only company in the world that manufactures the most advanced chip-making equipment.

The U.S. Department of State describes Pax Silica as its flagship effort on AI and supply chain security, aimed at aligning policies and investment among trusted partners across the full technology stack, from energy and critical minerals to advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, AI infrastructure, and logistics.