Pax Silica is an international economic-security initiative led by the United States, which aims to secure global supply chains for advanced technologies. The name is a conceptual term, combining the Latin word Pax (meaning peace, stability, and long-term prosperity) with Silica, the compound refined into silicon, which is foundational to computer chips and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The initiative was established with the signing of the non-binding Pax Silica Declaration in December 2025, coordinated by the U.S. Department of State. It was created to address the growing geopolitical competition and national-security concerns over supply-chain resilience in semiconductors, critical minerals, and AI-related computing infrastructure. The core problem it seeks to solve is the over-reliance on a single country, implicitly China, which holds a near-monopoly on the processing of many critical minerals.
Pax Silica works as a framework for coordinating policy alignment and investment among "trusted partners". Key mechanisms include supply-chain mapping, co-investment initiatives, and the protection of sensitive technologies and critical infrastructure. The initiative adopts a "full-stack" approach, covering the entire technological spectrum from critical minerals and energy inputs to chip design, fabrication, AI infrastructure, and logistics. India officially joined the initiative in February 2026 at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, becoming the twelfth member to sign the declaration.
This concept connects directly to the broader geopolitical strategy of "friend-shoring," which involves moving supply chains away from geopolitical rivals to allied nations. It is considered the U.S.-led counterpart to the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization. For India, membership aligns with its ambition to build domestic AI capabilities and secure access to the American technology stack, while reducing its vulnerability from importing a large share of critical minerals from China. The initiative is a recent creation, launched in December 2025, and its core structure as a non-binding declaration and strategic coalition has remained the same since its inception.