Trump Administration Seeks ‘Pax Silica’ Through AI
- The Trump administration is rapidly expanding an effort to secure global AI and tech supply chains.
- leads a coalition of six countries - israel, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the United Kingdom - formed last month to safeguard the supply of silicon critical...
- "It's meant to be an operational document for a new economic security consensus," undersecretary of economic affairs Jacob Helberg told Reuters on sunday.
The Trump administration is rapidly expanding an effort to secure global AI and tech supply chains.
The U.S. leads a coalition of six countries – israel, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the United Kingdom – formed last month to safeguard the supply of silicon critical to most tech applications, including AI. The initiative covers all levels of the supply chain, from critical minerals, energy, and advanced manufacturing to semiconductors, AI infrastructure, and logistics.
“It’s meant to be an operational document for a new economic security consensus,” undersecretary of economic affairs Jacob Helberg told Reuters on sunday.
“We encourage efforts to partner on strategic stacks of the global technology supply chain, including, but not limited to, software applications and platforms, frontier foundation models, information connectivity and network infrastructure, compute and semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, transportation logistics, minerals refining and processing, and energy,” reads a declaration signed by member countries.
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will join the framework this week, according to Helberg. The administration has also discussed the initiative with the European Union, Canada, and Taiwan.
the program, called Pax silica, is modeled after Pax Romana, Latin for Roman Peace. while “Silica” relates to “Silicon,” that portion isn’t Latin. Pax Romana describes a two-century period of relative stability and economic prosperity in Ancient Rome, which doubled in size through conquests and eventually included a quarter of the world’s population.
Concerns over China’s dominance of the AI supply chain drive the pax Silica initiative.
China controls roughly 90% of the world’s supply of rare earth elements, crucial for building computer chips used in smartphones and AI systems.
Last year, China restricted rare earth exports in response to Trump’s tariffs. These measures impacted the magnet industry and raised alarms about reliance on a single supplier.