US widens Pax Silica partnership

Washington, June 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) India joined the United States and 34 other countries in backing a new declaration on artificial intelligence as Washington expanded its Pax Silica partnership, a flagship initiative aimed at building trusted technology supply chains among like-minded economies.

A Joint Statement on AI Opportunity, unveiled at the 2026 Pax Silica Summit hosted by the US State Department, commits participating countries to a pro-growth, pro-innovation approach to artificial intelligence while promoting trusted partnerships across critical minerals, semiconductors, energy, advanced manufacturing and AI infrastructure.

The State Department also announced that 10 new partners had signed the Pax Silica Declaration, taking the initiative's membership to 24 countries and economies. The new signatories are Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, the European Union, Germany, Greece, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands and Panama.

India is among the existing members of the initiative, alongside Australia, Finland, Israel, Japan, Norway, Qatar, South Korea, Singapore, Sweden, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the UK and the US. Taiwan has endorsed the declaration's principles through a separate joint statement on US-Taiwan economic security cooperation.

The AI Opportunity Statement, among other things, seeks to align participating countries behind a regulatory approach that empowers "builders, startups, developers, and the private sector" while strengthening secure global AI supply chains.

The declaration says the signatories support policies that "advance technological innovation and promote investment" and seek to champion "a pro-growth regulatory environment that fosters AI innovation". It also outlines plans to deepen cooperation on trusted semiconductor ecosystems, reliable energy infrastructure, critical minerals and skilled workforces.

The participating countries also pledged to encourage cross-border venture capital flows, joint research and development, and industry partnerships to expand AI computing capacity, next-generation data centres and trusted AI models.

As part of the summit's outcomes, the State Department announced a pilot Artificial Intelligence Assistance Project in Panama. The project aims to develop an AI supply chain credentialing and provenance platform to speed the movement of semiconductors, AI infrastructure, critical minerals and related products through trusted logistics networks.

The department also unveiled Foundry School, a workforce development initiative in partnership with Stanford University. The programme will begin with a seminar series for founders and chief executives in advanced manufacturing before introducing a curriculum that educational institutions across Pax Silica economies will be able to adopt.

Responding to a question from IANS after the summit, Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg said India had the potential to become "a comprehensive partner" under the initiative.

"Our administrations have announced their collaboration on the trust initiative. We already work together in a whole array of different issues, and Pax Silica opens the door to deepen our collaboration on semiconductor manufacturing, on critical minerals processing," Helberg said.

He added that both countries shared concerns over supply chain vulnerabilities and opportunities to build innovation ecosystems, particularly given India's large youth population.

Launched by Helberg in December 2025, Pax Silica is the State Department's flagship initiative on artificial intelligence and supply chain security. It seeks to build economic security partnerships among allies and trusted partners to strengthen supply chains for critical technologies and reduce dependence on vulnerable global networks.

Source: IANS