India on Friday formally joined the Pax Silica coalition, a strategic alliance of nations committed to building strong supply chains for critical minerals as well as robust artificial intelligence.
The pact was signed at the AI Impact Summit in the presence of Union electronics and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, US undersecretary of state for economic affairs Jacob Helberg, and US ambassador to India Sergio Gor.
The US-led coalition was launched on December 11 with seven countries signing the Pax Silica Declaration in Washington. India is the 12th country to have signed up.
All three men talked up the moment. “We are not just holding a summit, we are building the future,” Vaishnaw said.
Helberg hailed the signing as a historic milestone in US-India ties and a stand against “weaponised dependency”; Gor said it marked a fantastic partnership.
“Both of our nations claimed their freedom by learning to say ‘No’…. So, today, as we sign the Pax Silica Declaration, we say ‘No’ to weaponised dependency, and we say ‘No’ to blackmail,” Helberg said, stressing that economic security was national security.
“We are securing the full stack of the future, the minerals deep in the earth, the silicon wafers in our labs and fabs, and the intelligence that will unleash human potential. Pax Silica is our declaration that the future belongs to those who build.”
Gor lauded India’s determination to chart its own course.
“I keep talking about the limitless potential between our two nations, and I truly mean it. From the trade deal to Pax Silica to defence cooperation, the potential for our two nations to work together is truly limitless,” he said.
“And I aim to fulfil that over the next three years that I’m here. Earlier this month, we concluded the interim trade agreement, a deal that shapes the economic contours of the Indo-Pacific.
“We overcame friction points that had held us back for far too long. That agreement was not just about trade flows or tariff schedules; it was about two great democracies saying, ‘We will build together, not just buy from one another’.”
Gor said the Pax Silica coalition would define the 21st century’s economic and technological order. “It’s a coalition of capabilities that replaces coercive dependencies with a positive alliance of trusted industrial bases.”
The ambassador went on to underscore the democratic foundation of the partnership.
“Pax Silica is about whether free societies will control the commanding heights of the global economy. We choose freedom. We choose partnership. We choose strength,” he said.
Vaishnaw said India’s joining of the coalition marked the creation of new foundations and opportunities for the younger generation.
He added that India’s engineers were designing the world’s most advanced two-nanometer chips. The semiconductor industry will require around 1 million new skilled professionals, he said, and this was a very big opportunity for India.
A media statement from the IT ministry said the signing underscored a message: The future of artificial intelligence and advanced technologies would not be left to chance; it would be built deliberately by nations committed to freedom, partnership and long-term resilience.
Gor had invited India to join Pax Silica on the day he assumed office at Roosevelt House in New Delhi last month.
The founding signatories of Pax Silica were the US, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the UK, Israel and Australia. Greece, Qatar, the UAE and the Netherlands signed up later.
Other countries and organisations, including the European Union and the OECD, too, are engaging with Pax Silica but as non-signatories.