Opinion With Pax Silica, India gets a seat at the table
New Delhi spent years laying the groundwork through bilateral initiatives like the US-India iCET. Pax Silica is the framework where these efforts finally converge into a cohesive bloc
India and the United States sign the Pax Silica declaration. (Photo: ANI) India has formally signed the Pax Silica declaration on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit. If the 20th century was forged in oil and steel, the 21st century is being engineered by semiconductors, critical minerals, and AI. These are bound to eclipse fossil fuels and naval fleets as the ultimate arbiters of global hegemony, if they haven’t already. This redrawing of the global power map forces every nation to rethink its security architecture and choose its technological alliances. India is no longer merely a consumer of the digital age. We have been inducted into its strategic inner sanctum. The currency of global power has permanently debased old strategic standards.
Pax Silica is the US Department of State’s flagship effort on AI and supply-chain security, advancing a new economic security consensus among trusted partners. It targets the full strategic stack of the global supply chain, spanning frontier foundation models, information connectivity, advanced manufacturing, and critical minerals refining. The impetus stems from a broader narrative of securitisation. The dual-use nature of critical and emerging technologies (CETs) — where frontier AI models also underwrite next-generation military capabilities — has permanently fused national security with economic policy. The illusion of frictionless globalisation has been shattered, triggering an irreversible securitisation of supply chains. A nation that cannot secure its own technology stack effectively outsources its strategic autonomy.
New Delhi spent years laying the groundwork through bilateral initiatives like the US-India iCET. Pax Silica is the framework where these efforts finally converge into a cohesive allied bloc. Within this new ecosystem, India brings indispensable capabilities. First, it offers unmatched human capital, providing 20 per cent of the world’s semiconductor design talent. Second, New Delhi provides vital strategic geometry. With the current tech supply chain precariously concentrated along the vulnerable “first island chain” in the Pacific, India offers a continental anchor safely positioned outside the immediate volatility of the South China Sea. This signals a maturation of India’s strategic philosophy. Autarky is a liability in a techno-nationalistic age. Economic security requires deep integration with reliable partners.
This international integration serves as the point of convergence for a massive domestic transformation. Through the rollout of the India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 and IndiaAI, parallel tracks are aligning into a singular engine of technological power. The formal induction of India into Pax Silica is a decision firmly rooted in realpolitik. While India must aim for atmanirbharta in the long run, it must pragmatically ally today to secure access to essential intellectual property, critical equipment, and sustained investments. Yet, in a turbulent order defined by economic coercion, a seat at the table is only the beginning. The coalition will inevitably face geopolitical shocks and the continuous threat of supply chain disruptions. India must leverage its agility, building overlapping technology coalitions to ensure that its technological rise remains fully insulated.
Bhagat is assistant professor and Kumar is a research scholar at JNU
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