India joins US-led initiative to build secure technology supply chains
NEW DELHI– India on Friday joined a U.S.-led initiative aimed at boosting technological cooperation between strategic allies, a move that underscores warming ties between the nations after brief tension over New Delhi’s relentless buying of discounted Russian oil.
The move closely aligns India with Washington’s efforts to build secure supply chains for semiconductors, advanced manufacturing and critical technologies at a time when geopolitical competition with China is intensifying. It also signals a reset in relations following friction over trade and energy tariffs.
Countries that have joined the Pax Silica framework include Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and Israel.
“Pax Silica will be a group of nations who believe that technology should empower free people and free markets. India’s entry into Pax Silica is not just symbolic. It is strategic, it is essential,” US Ambassador Sergio Gor said in a speech preceding the signing of the agreement.
Pax Silica aims to strengthen cooperation between partner countries in design, manufacturing, research and semiconductor supply chain resilience. The initiative aims to reduce reliance on Chinese-dominated manufacturing hubs while promoting reliable production networks between democracies and strategic allies.
The developments at the artificial intelligence summit in New Delhi come weeks after India and the United States reached an interim trade framework aimed at reducing tariffs and granting each other greater access to each other’s markets, easing tensions that threatened to slow bilateral momentum.
President Donald Trump announced earlier this month that the United States would lower reciprocal import duties on India from 25% to 18% and also remove the additional 25% levy imposed earlier for the purchase of Russian crude after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to stop it.
India had increased its imports of Russian oil after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, drawing criticism from its Western partners even as New Delhi defended the purchases as necessary to manage inflation and protect its consumers.
India’s entry into Pax Silica, combined with trade concessions, marks a strategic convergence that extends beyond trade to long-term technological and security cooperation, strengthening India’s role as a key partner of the United States in the Indo-Pacific region.
“From the trade agreement to Pax Silica to defense cooperation, the potential for our two nations to work together is truly limitless,” Gor said.
