Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: THE United States has underlined that India remains a “highly strategic potential partner” on supply chain security and advanced technologies, even though New Delhi was not part of the inaugural Pax Silica Summit, a new US-led initiative focused on securing the global silicon and semiconductor supply chain. Speculation linking India’s absence to political tensions with Washington was misplaced and incorrect, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg told reporters at a news conference in Washington on December 17.
“My understanding is that there was a lot of speculation behind India not participating in the Pax Silica Summit,” Helberg said. “I want to be clear that the conversations between the United States and India pertaining to trade arrangements are a completely separate and parallel track to our discussions on supply chain security. We are not conflating those two things.”
Helberg added: “We view India as a highly strategic potential partner on supply chain security-related efforts, and we welcome the opportunity to engage with them.”
The Pax Silica initiative, launched last week, brings together an initial group of countries closely linked to semiconductor manufacturing and advanced technology supply chains, including Singapore, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Helberg said the initiative fits into a broader US economic security strategy built around four pillars: rebalancing trade, stabilising conflict zones, reindustrialising the United States, and securing supply chains. On India specifically, Helberg stressed that engagement with New Delhi was ongoing and active. Helberg said Indian participation in future Pax Silica-related efforts remained a real possibility.
Earlier in the briefing, Helberg explained that the initial group of Pax Silica countries was deliberately limited to those forming the “nucleus of semiconductor manufacturing”, such as Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the Netherlands, before expanding further down the supply chain to areas like critical minerals. India, which has rolled out incentive schemes to build a domestic semiconductor ecosystem and has positioned itself as a trusted technology partner, has increasingly featured in US strategic thinking.