Pax Silica is a U.S.-led economic‑security initiative for the AI era that links like‑minded countries to coordinate “trusted” supply chains for compute (data centers and chips), silicon/semiconductors, critical minerals, energy, logistics and related infrastructure. Its formal goals, as set out in the Pax Silica Declaration, are to: (1) deepen economic and technology partnerships across this full tech stack; (2) reduce “excessive dependencies” on unreliable or coercive suppliers; (3) protect sensitive technologies and infrastructure; and (4) promote a shared, trusted AI ecosystem and fair‑competition rules. Governance so far is light: the declaration is non‑binding, coordinated by the U.S. State Department, with an emerging steering/coordination group rather than a treaty‑style organization or formal secretariat; detailed institutional structures beyond periodic summits and working‑level coordination have not yet been fully spelled out publicly.
By signing the Pax Silica Declaration, a country makes political and policy commitments, not binding legal ones. The declaration commits members to: cooperate on securing AI‑era tech supply chains; coordinate “investment security” and export‑control‑style policies to protect sensitive technologies; work together against unfair trade practices (like dumping and overcapacity); build trusted digital and physical infrastructure (networks, data centers, logistics, mineral processing, energy); and reduce “excessive dependencies” on single or coercive suppliers. There are no treaty obligations, enforcement mechanisms, or fixed financial contributions published to date; implementation is expected to happen through follow‑on national policies, joint projects, and coordination forums.
Jacob Helberg is the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (since October 2025). In this role he is the State Department’s senior official for economic policy and “economic statecraft,” overseeing areas such as international economic relations, technology and AI supply‑chain security, critical minerals, and energy. He leads U.S. diplomacy on Pax Silica—convening summits, signing the Pax Silica Declaration with partner countries, and promoting U.S. economic‑security initiatives with allies and the private sector.
Saeed Bin Mubarak Al Hajeri is a Minister of State in the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As Minister of State, he is part of the federal cabinet and is responsible for advancing the UAE’s global economic agenda and managing key bilateral relationships, especially in economic and trade affairs. That cabinet‑level status gives him the authority, when mandated by the UAE leadership, to sign international declarations like Pax Silica on behalf of the UAE government.
In practical terms, Pax Silica aims to strengthen supply chains and curb “coercive dependencies” by pushing members to: (1) diversify where they source critical minerals, chips, and energy instead of relying on a single dominant supplier; (2) co‑develop and co‑finance infrastructure such as data centers, subsea cables, logistics hubs, and mineral‑processing plants in partner countries; (3) coordinate export controls, investment‑screening and other “investment security” tools to keep sensitive technologies out of hostile hands; and (4) align standards for “trusted” vendors and networks so that members preferentially buy from each other and from vetted firms. The UAE media note reflects this by listing joint work on 6G, compute and data centers, advanced manufacturing, logistics, mineral refining/processing and energy—all designed to build redundant, interoperable capacity across multiple friendly states rather than over‑relying on any one country.
Public documents describe the types of flagship projects Pax Silica will pursue, but not a single centralized funding pot. The initiative envisions joint or coordinated projects across the “global technology stack,” including: connectivity and edge/6G infrastructure; large‑scale compute and data centers; semiconductor and advanced‑manufacturing facilities; logistics corridors and ports; and mineral‑refining and processing plants, backed by reliable energy. Financing is expected to come mainly from national budgets, export‑credit agencies, development finance institutions, and private investors in member countries, guided and de‑risked by Pax Silica coordination rather than a supranational fund; detailed project lists and dedicated funding vehicles have not yet been fully published.
According to U.S. and Indian media, India is in advanced talks with Washington to join Pax Silica in the first half of 2026 and is expected to be formally invited and added as a signatory “next month” relative to the January 2026 announcements. Senior U.S. officials have framed India’s entry as bringing a major semiconductor, software, and critical‑minerals player into the coalition, which would expand its economic weight and project opportunities but would not fundamentally change the non‑binding nature of the declaration or create new legal obligations for existing members; it would mainly broaden the scope of cooperation and the geographic spread of coordinated supply‑chain projects.