The mango that broke a market
It is peak mango season in India. The Alphonso harvest is at its richest, the Kesar at its most fragrant.
India’s formal entry into the US-led Pax Silica coalition on Friday signals more than a technology partnership. In a world where semiconductor supply chains increasingly shape economic leverage and strategic autonomy, New Delhi has stepped into a grouping designed to secure critical technologies and reduce vulnerabilities in advanced manufacturing.
The Pax Silica Declaration was signed during the AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, formally bringing India into the coalition launched in December 2025. The initiative brings together countries that want to make their semiconductor and AI supply chains more secure and less vulnerable. At a time when control over critical technology has become a strategic issue, such partnerships are no longer just about business; they are about national priorities.
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US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor described the partnership as one that will define the 21st century economic and technological order. Welcoming India as a co-founder, he said the two nations had chosen to win and framed the alliance as one meant to keep the commanding heights of technology in the hands of free nations.
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“It’s about whether innovation happens in Bangalore (Bengaluru) and Silicon Valley, or in surveillance states that use technology to monitor and control their people,” Gor said.
The rare earth equation behind the chip race
Although China was not named, the wider strategic backdrop is clear. A BBC report in October 2025 noted that China accounts for about 61 per cent of global rare earth production and 92 per cent of processing, citing estimates by the International Energy Agency. Rare earths are used across a wide range of modern industries, from semiconductor chips and electric vehicles to defence equipment and consumer electronics.
The report added that China has tightened controls on rare earth exports in recent months, requiring government clearance before the minerals can be shipped abroad. Analysts cited in the report said China’s dominance in production and processing gives it considerable leverage in trade talks.
Against that backdrop, efforts such as Pax Silica are seen as moves by partner nations to reduce their reliance on heavily concentrated supply chains and build alternative, trusted networks for critical technologies.
A coalition built around supply chain resilience
Launched in Washington in December 2025, Pax Silica is the US Department of State’s flagship initiative on AI and semiconductor supply chain security. It is designed to secure what Gor called the entire silicon stack, from critical minerals extraction to fabrication plants and frontier AI deployment.
“Pax Silica is designed to secure an entire silicon stack — from the mines where we extract critical minerals, to the fabs where we manufacture chips, to the data centres where we deploy frontier AI,” Gor said. He described it as a coalition of capabilities that replaces coercive dependencies with a positive-sum alliance of trusted industrial bases.
Partner nations include Israel, Japan, Greece, Australia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom.
The declaration underlines that reliable semiconductor supply chains are indispensable to mutual economic security and recognises AI as a transformative force for long-term prosperity.
India positions itself in the global value chain
Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw termed India’s entry into Pax Silica a historic event, saying resilient semiconductor supply chains are critical in a world that has witnessed supply chain weaponisation.
“The semiconductor supply chain is very important for the entire world. There is a need for a resilient supply chain. We have seen the kind of disruptions which happened during COVID, and it can be weaponised. So that’s why today the entire world is looking at India as a trusted country,” Vaishnaw told ANI.
Highlighting India’s domestic progress, he said the country is designing 2-nanometer chips and that manufacturing, equipment and material ecosystems are emerging. Ten semiconductor plants are in various stages of development, with commercial production expected soon.
“A complete ecosystem is emerging in India. Pax Silica will be crucial for this, and the youth of India will benefit from it,” he said.
The India AI Impact Summit 2026, said to be the first global AI summit hosted in the Global South, brought together over 110 countries and 30 international organisations, including around 20 Heads of State or Government and about 45 ministers.
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