A quiet however consequential shift is going down in international geopolitics, and it has little to do with borders or armies. The brand new battleground is provide chains. America’ lately introduced Pax Silica initiative indicators a transfer to show management over expertise provide chains into strategic energy, shaping who units the principles within the age of synthetic intelligence. India is just not a part of the primary group. That issues, not due to symbolism, however as a result of it reveals the place leverage within the subsequent expertise order will lie.
Pax Silica brings collectively eight US companions to safe trusted entry throughout the AI worth chain, from important minerals and semiconductor manufacturing to logistics, finance, and safety. The logic is obvious: those that management the toughest inputs form requirements, pricing, and entry for everybody else.
For India, this isn’t a narrative about exclusion. It’s a reminder of how energy will likely be organised.
Why These Eight International locations?
Every member of the Pax Silica group provides a key chokepoint within the expertise provide chain. Japan and South Korea present superior manufacturing power. The Netherlands controls extremely specialised chipmaking gear that few others can produce. Singapore combines international port entry with a powerful semiconductor base. Australia brings depth in important minerals. The UK, Israel, and the UAE add supply-chain safety, superior defence and cyber applied sciences, and capital-backed ambition for AI infrastructure.
Collectively, they cowl the earliest and most delicate hyperlinks within the expertise chain. When these hyperlinks sit inside a small, trusted circle, commerce turns into much less about worth and extra about belief. Market entry begins to rely on membership.
Such coalitions aren’t solely about energy. In addition they assist members coordinate requirements, cut back dependence on single suppliers and defend themselves from shocks. However in addition they draw traces between insiders and outsiders.
Why India’s Absence Is Being Misunderstood
India is just not within the preliminary grouping. Some see this as a diplomatic slight. Others argue it’s irrelevant. Each views miss the true situation. The query is just not whether or not India was invited, however whether or not it’s transferring quick sufficient up the supply-chain ladder to be handled as a accomplice relatively than a buyer.
India is much from marginal within the semiconductor world. In chip design, it’s already indispensable. Practically 20 per cent of the world’s chip design engineers are primarily based in India, and international corporations run massive design centres throughout the nation. This isn’t a capability that may be relocated shortly, no matter political shifts. That’s the reason design work continues to move to India at the same time as geopolitics hardens.
The place India Is Gaining Floor
India can also be starting to construct power in areas that matter greater than they seem. The federal government has authorized ten semiconductor tasks throughout six states, overlaying outsourced meeting and testing (OSAT) and superior packaging. These aren’t headline-grabbing fabs, however they’re important hyperlinks. Design creates intelligence; packaging and testing make chips usable at scale.
That is the place India can fill gaps. Its design expertise, mixed with back-end capability, reduces focus danger for international provide chains. These are sensible chokepoints, and India is beginning to occupy them.
That progress is actual, not theoretical. Which is why dismissing Pax Silica as irrelevant could be a mistake.
The Actual Danger: Being Outdoors The Inside Circle
Provide-chain groupings can shortly develop into devices of energy. In a disaster, insiders are protected first. Outsiders face delays, situations, and uncertainty. Guidelines are formed inside small teams, whereas others are left to conform with out affect.
India’s publicity is exclusive. It’s each an unlimited future market and a rising functionality hub. Markets are welcome. Functionality nodes get seats on the desk. Pax Silica underlines why India should develop into extra of the latter.
Functionality comes earlier than membership. The objective is just not entry for its personal sake, however leverage robust sufficient to make entry significant.
The place India Can Transfer Quickest
Over the subsequent two to 3 years, India’s strongest features lie upstream.
First, important minerals processing and recycling. India has authorized a ₹1,500 crore incentive scheme and issued operational pointers in October 2025. Processing creates leverage shortly and reduces vulnerability to exterior bottlenecks. It additionally makes India helpful to any group looking for to diversify provide away from single-country dominance.
Second, superior packaging and OSAT. Clusters similar to Sanand in Gujarat are already rising. Strengthening the broader packaging ecosystem would permit India to develop into indispensable with out pretending it may possibly leapfrog probably the most superior fabrication hubs in a single day.
Taking part in The Lengthy Sport
Diplomatically, India ought to interact with Pax Silica as a functionality contributor, not as a late entrant looking for concessions. Coming into later is just not a failure if leverage has elevated.
There’s precedent. The Minerals Safety Partnership was launched in June 2022, and India joined a yr later, in June 2023. The lesson is simple: construct power first, and membership follows on higher phrases.
Pax Silica is just not a rejection of India. It’s a map of the place energy will sit within the expertise financial system. The duty now could be to make sure India occupies extra of these positions, in order that when doorways open, it walks in as a accomplice, not a petitioner.