NEW DELHI: India on Friday officially joined Pax Silica, the flagship US artificial intelligence and supply chain security initiative widely seen as a countermeasure to China’s influence on critical technologies. Welcoming India, US Ambassador Sergio Gore said the alliance, made up of some of Washington’s closest allies and trusted partners, is “the commanding heights of whether free societies can control the global economy” and will define the economic and technological order of the 21st century.In addition to the Silica Declaration, a supplementary joint statement signed by MeitY Secretary S Krishnan, US Under Secretary for Economic Growth Jacob Helberg and Al Gore said the partnership marked a new era in which the world’s oldest and largest democracies not only defend freedom but also purposefully pursue prosperity and harmony for their people.India has enough talent to take on challengers: GoreThe two countries share a desire to build an AI future that serves the citizens of both countries, strengthens economies and societies, and embodies their shared values ​​of freedom, openness and the rule of law. “The statement said.Gore’s remarks were more revealing, saying that Pax Silica is a coalition of capabilities that replaces coercive dependence with a positive-sum coalition of a trusted industrial base. “India joining Pax Silica is not only symbolic, but strategic and important. India is a country with deep talent that can compete with challengers,” Gore said on his first day in office last month, inviting India to join the initiative, which now has 11 members.For India, Pax Silica is another important step towards normalizing relations with the United States after the two sides finalized the framework of an interim trade deal this month.Gore said India brings strength to the alliance as its engineering depth and critical mineral processing capabilities provide key capabilities to the partnership. “Peace doesn’t come from hoping that your adversaries will play fair. We all know they won’t. Peace comes from strength. India understands that. India understands strong borders. India understands this part of the world. That strength, that sovereignty is what the Silica Peace amplifies,” the US ambassador said, adding that discussions were ongoing with India to establish supply chains that would not be held hostage.The Pax Silica Manifesto seeks to work to reduce over-reliance and forge new connections with reliable partners and suppliers committed to fair market practices, while recognizing the importance of addressing non-market practices that undermine innovation and fair competition.Welcoming India’s “co-creation” of the future, Gore said the initiative is about whether innovation happens in Bengaluru and Silicon Valley or in a surveillance state that uses technology to monitor and control its people. “We choose freedom. We choose partnership. We choose strength. Today, as India joins Pax Silica, we choose to win,” Gore said.The joint statement prioritizes economic security, pro-innovation regulation, a stronger physical AI stack and free enterprise, saying both sides agree that the significant risk facing the free world is not the advancement of artificial intelligence, but the failure to lead in artificial intelligence.Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw emphasized that collaboration under Pax Silica will further deepen engagement in critical technologies and supply chain resilience under the Indo-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.“Technology cooperation remains one of the core pillars of the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership. India’s participation in the Pax Silica initiative marks an important step towards deepening bilateral cooperation in critical and emerging technologies and strengthens the two countries’ shared commitment to resilient, trustworthy and future-proof supply chains,” the MEA said.
