As of February 2026, the United States is actively pressuring India to lend its support to Pax Silica, a strategic alliance formed in December 2025, whose objectives are geared toward diversification, particularly with regard to China. The areas included are critical minerals, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence.
The US administration is of the view that India can be at the core of this arrangement because of its large human talent pool and its mining prospect. The agreement is likely to be finalized soon, which will further enhance technological, economic, and security cooperation between the two countries.
US Pushes India’s Entry into Pax Silica Initiative to Counter China
What is Pax Silica?
- Pax Silica is intended to disrupt Chinese dominance in:
- Critical minerals
The - Manufacturing Semiconduct
- AI equipment and sophisticated technology
- The goal here is to ensure that new technologies do not depend on any particular country, creating a sustainable and reliable global supply chain.
Why India Matters
India is “perhaps the only country in the world capable of challenging China’s dominance in terms of human talent at scale,” according to US officials. With that, it makes India a natural partner in creating alternative technologies.
Areas of Cooperation
- The cooperation that could be proposed under Pax Silica would involve:
- Critical minerals supply chain — from mining to processing
- Semiconductor and hardware manufacturing
- Development of a trusted artificial intelligence ecosystem
- Timeline and Current Status
- A “meeting of the minds” occurred in January 2026
- Since then, the US has been working actively to bring India into the initiative.
- Discussions are being led with involvement from the US Department of State
Strategic Importance
- Hosting India in Pax Silica is also coherent with more general goals to:
- Deepen the US–India strategic relationship
- Counter geopolitical coercion
- build a safe, diversified, democratic technology order
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