US, India align to cut AI supply chain risks under Pax Silica

Washington,UPDATED: Jun 26, 2026 21:48 IST

The US and India are aligned on the need to reduce single-point failures in global supply chains that support artificial intelligence technologies, a senior US official said on Friday. He said the US-led Pax Silica initiative could help deepen cooperation between the two countries in semiconductor manufacturing and critical minerals processing.

US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg said India had the potential to become a comprehensive partner and that Washington and New Delhi were already working together on a range of issues. He was speaking on the sidelines of an event in Washington where Kazakhstan, Panama, Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica and El Salvador joined Pax Silica.

"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 told reporters in reply to a question on India. "Our countries fundamentally share the exact same concerns about the fragility of the status quo in our supply chains," he said.

Helberg said India was home to one of the largest youth populations in the world and the US saw opportunities in promoting a developer ecosystem, entrepreneurship and jobs for people in both countries. "So we're very excited to work with it," he said.

The US official said there was a problem of over-concentration in supply chains and that some such issues were not unique to China. "We think about it as a problem of over-concentration in our supply chains, and there are over-concentration issues that are not unique to China, and there are some that are," he said. "Fundamentally, the issue is the supply chain right now is reliant on single points of failure, whether they be logistical or whether they be industrial," Helberg said.

"We are totally on the same page about the fact that these single points of failure need to be de-risked for the health of the global economy," he added. At the second Pax Silica Summit, held over two days in Washington on Thursday, 35 nations signed the Joint Statement on AI Opportunity, backing a pro-growth, pro-innovation regulatory approach for the AI era.

India was represented at the summit by S Krishnan, Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Nagraj Naidu, Additional Secretary (Americas) in the Ministry of External Affairs, and representatives of Indian industry. The Indian delegation held discussions with other governments and industry experts on advancing collaboration in semiconductors, artificial intelligence and resilient technology supply chains, underscoring the broader push to strengthen cooperation in these areas.

With PTI Inputs

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