India’s entry into Pax Silica is a bet on securing its place in trusted AI supply chains while managing the trade-offs between access and dependence
In February 2026, India joined Pax Silica, a United States (US)-led initiative to develop secure supply chains across the artificial intelligence (AI) technological stack. Its areas of cooperation are wide-ranging and cover the entire spectrum from mineral mining, semiconductor manufacturing, and AI infrastructure to software, models, and network infrastructure. India was not part of the founding group when the initiative launched in December 2025. It had been in discussions for months before the announcement at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi in February 2026. This article examines why India chose to join and what it stands to gain from this membership.
Pax Silica is a coalition of twelve participating countries in a shared production network for artificial intelligence. Members include the US, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Israel, the UK, UAE, Qatar, Greece, India, and Sweden as signatories to the Pax Silica Declaration, and Taiwan as a non-signatory participant that has endorsed its principles—each country’s participation relies on its contribution to the supply chain, across mineral processing, fabrication capacity, chip design, and deployment infrastructure. The coalition is part of the broader push to sidestep China in critical supply chains, where it is a chokepoint accounting for around 70 percent of global processing and over 90 percent of production of key critical minerals and materials used in advanced electronics.
The coalition is part of the broader push to sidestep China in critical supply chains, where it is a chokepoint accounting for around 70 percent of global processing and over 90 percent of production of key critical minerals and materials used in advanced electronics.
For India’s issue-based alignment approach to foreign alliances, Pax Silica fits the model well. It addresses one of India’s most pressing concerns: overreliance on China. India is increasingly cognisant of the risks of Chinese dominance in critical sectors and is wary of Chinese-origin technology, especially in sectors with national security implications. Pax Silica allows India to counter this while being technology-specific, economically sound, and limiting spillover into wider foreign policy positions.
Another advantage of membership is improving access to the American tech stack. After India’s ‘Tier 2’ categorisation under the now-rescinded US AI Diffusion Rule, India and the US are better placed to build a more trusted partnership. India’s admission is akin to the 2008 civilian nuclear deal with the United States, a sectoral agreement that changed the bilateral relationship without entering into a formal alliance.
India brings significant assets to the initiative. It has a large and growing pool of semiconductor experts, proven chip-design capabilities, substantial reserves of critical minerals, global suppliers of hyperscale data centre equipment, and a booming market for AI. However, while India’s semiconductor policy has seen ambitious declarations, implementation has not always kept pace. Coalition partners will calibrate their technology transfer commitments against India’s demonstrated ability to deliver, which makes it vital to bridge the implementation gap.
Pax Silica allows India to counter this while being technology-specific, economically sound, and limiting spillover into wider foreign policy positions.
With respect to autonomy, ensuring that the partnership remains balanced is a key concern. The name Pax Silica is an intentional reference to Pax Americana, suggesting Washington’s desire to control global technology governance in the same way that it shaped the post-World War II economic order. Components of Pax Silica that have been announced, such as the Pax Silica Fund, emphasise an ‘America First assistance agenda’ focused on creating new commercial opportunities for the US. The priority for India will be to avoid arrangements that reproduce dependency and instead secure outcomes that strengthen domestic capacity and leverage.
Pax Silica opens opportunities for India. The first is access to technology from global leaders such as Australia, South Korea, and the US, which would have been more difficult to secure through ad hoc bilateral agreements. It also enables coordination of flagship projects and complex supply chains across countries.
In February, the US Department of State announced a pilot ‘concierge’ service to streamline the acquisition of American AI products for Pax Silica signatories. Ease of procurement is an advantage India can exploit immediately. It provides official channels for co-development in advanced chip packaging and semiconductor fabrication, two areas where India’s industrial base is still underserved despite policy efforts to boost these sectors. Joint financing with other nations changes the risk calculus for private investors who might otherwise be unconvinced.
Beyond minerals and semiconductors, the coalition’s scope explicitly includes collaboration in 6G, fibre-optic cables, and secure hardware. India’s 6G ambitions now have a coalition home. It has been more proactive in domestic 6G policy development than most coalition members outside Japan and South Korea, presenting an opportunity for both standards-setting and commercial development.
The priority for India will be to avoid arrangements that reproduce dependency and instead secure outcomes that strengthen domestic capacity and leverage.
Pax Silica also opens access to capital under its framework. Initiatives like the Edge AI Package for the Indo-Pacific provide funding support to Mobile Network Operators and Original Equipment Manufacturers to develop cost-competitive alternatives to Chinese technology. The Pax Silica Fund is envisioned to allocate US$ 250 million toward critical mineral extraction and processing, critical infrastructure, and semiconductor manufacturing assets. Given India’s mineral reserves and ambitions, this offers another pathway to build capabilities beyond China-dominated ecosystems.
Pax Silica is the kind of arrangement India’s foreign policy doctrine was designed to produce; it is sector-specific, entered from a position of demonstrated value, and structurally insulated from other commitments. India’s four cards are its mineral reserves, its market, talent and design depth, and 6G policy lead, none of which have been fully leveraged yet. The Edge AI Package, the concierge service, and the investment networks are in the early stages of rollout. Indian firms and policymakers will have to move quickly to use them on favourable terms before Gulf capital and US commercial interests set the precedent. India has joined the right coalition at the right moment. The substantive test, however, lies ahead. Whether membership translates into industrial depth and genuine policy influence will depend on the quality and consistency of India’s domestic follow-through.
Amoha Basrur is a Junior Fellow with the Centre for Security, Strategy, and Technology at the Observer Research Foundation.
Veer Puri is a Research Assistant with the Centre for New Economic Diplomacy at the Observer Research Foundation.
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Amoha Basrur is a Junior Fellow at ORF’s Centre for Security Strategy and Technology. Her research focuses on the national security implications of technology, specifically on ...
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Veer Puri is a Research Assistant with ORF’s Centre for New Economic Diplomacy. At ORF, his research focuses on the Blue Economy and connectivity, with particular ...
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