India has announced to join the US-led strategic alliance Pax Silica. If the 20th century was of oil and steel, the 21st century is of silicon. India has formally joined Pax Silica. It is a US-led geopolitical and economic alliance designed to secure global supply chains for AI, semiconductors and essential minerals. These are sectors where China has a monopoly.
Brokered by the US State Department, this alliance is an initiative to separate from China. For India, joining Pax Silica is a strategic turn, an opportunity to inject billions of dollars in tech investment and cement its role as the main alternative to China.
Architecture of Pax Silica
Pax Silica, launched in December 2025, is a kind of G7 in the age of AI. Its basic premise is that in today’s era, economic security cannot be separated from compute power. Unlike previous, smaller chip agreements, Pax Silica takes an end-to-end approach.
It coordinates policy across the entire technology stack, from mining and refining rare earth elements to making chips and AI foundation models and data centers. This group includes countries like Israel, Australia, Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, United Kingdom and United States and Taiwan is also observing it.
China’s problem
The official language of the bloc emphasizes positive equal partnership, but its subtext is entirely focused on China. Beijing currently controls more than 60 percent of global rare earth processing and dominates legacy chip manufacturing. PAX reflects Washington’s moving gap doctrine to maintain a permanent technological lead over China in silica, AI and semiconductors.
By coordinating export controls, subsidies, and capital flows between partner countries, Pax Silica attempts to create interdependence. This essentially draws a silicon curtain over the global economy, reducing China’s access to the tools needed to train AI models, while subsidizing capacity building in partner countries.
India’s entry in Pax Silica
India has been officially included in Pax Silica this week at the India AI Impact Summit held in New Delhi. When Pax Silica was introduced in late 2025, India has a huge engineering talent pool and a rapidly growing AI market, but it does not have the impressive capabilities of Taiwan or South Korea. But, things are changing. The initial framework of the India-US trade deal was signed earlier this month, which has eased relations.
To succeed, Pax Silica needs India’s raw capacity, domestic market size and rising mineral targets as proposed in the Union Budget 2026. US Ambassador to India Sergio Gore’s swift invitation to New Delhi reflects a practical realization: India is essential to any successful China Plus One strategy.
With the entry of Pax Silica, India Inc. The door has opened for companies like Tata Group which is rapidly expanding its semiconductor footprint. It also gives New Delhi a role in shaping global digital governance.
Ultimately, India’s participation in Pax Silica is a turning point. This is a sign that New Delhi is willing to give up some strategic confusion for a permanent seat in the exclusive alliance that will decide the future of global technology. In the high-stakes contest for AI supremacy, the battle lines are now clearly drawn.
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